


Little By Little

by MeredithBrody



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s04e03 Home, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 17:51:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2701886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They return from the mountain, but Jon and Erika both think they may have made a mistake in not pursuing their relationship after they get home. (Set between "Home" and "Borderland", 100% SassCaptains with some appearances from other characters.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Thursday, Week Two**

He wasn't really sure why he had decided that visiting Erika right now was a good idea. It had been a week since they'd returned from the mountain, and for some reason he just really felt the need to see her again. Since the debriefing they'd both been busy, making sure that their ships were getting the care and attention they needed. But tonight he knew she was back on Earth, and he just wanted to see her again.

He'd even pulled a bottle of her favourite wine out of his cellar for the occasion. Knowing that Erika would probably enjoy sharing a bottle and some more gossip with him. He had gotten too used to being able to speak to her while they were on the mountain he wasn't really sure what to do now they were home.

When it came to the deal they'd made, he knew it was he who had said that they should leave it on the mountain, and that he still thought that was probably a good idea, but he couldn't. Now he'd reconnected with her he found himself thinking about her all the time, just wondering what she was doing. It had been almost 14 years since they first met, and he still found himself loving her as much now as he always had. Maybe that should have been his first sign that he should throw caution to the wind.

Why was he still stood in the street debating this. He'd walked all this distance, and he was sure that she'd be happy to see him. But it still felt like he was intruding. What if she had a guest, or was already asleep. Her apartment was dark, but she liked to watch movies with the lights off, he had learnt that when they'd lived together. So he decided to just go for it and push the buzzer.

A few seconds later she was jogging down the steps and he could see her through the windows. It was always amusing to know that she still hadn't had the door control to her apartment fixed, despite the years it had been since he'd accidentally broken it. She looked surprised to see him as she opened the door, obviously she hadn't expected him to be here much as he hadn't expected to come.

"What's wrong Jonathan?" She asked after a few seconds, stepping back from the doorway and letting him into the lobby. He smiled as he handed her the bottle of wine then leant forward to kiss her cheek. He walked passed her and started up the stairs, still feeling her surprised eyes on his back.

Whenever he walked into this apartment he felt like he was coming home. Maybe it was the years he'd lived here, or maybe it was because it was Erika's space, and it actually reflected her personality perfectly. It was a calming space, and he loved it there. He had put his coat on he hangar by the time Erika joined him again. She was just looking at him and it was obvious she was still confused why he was here. "You don't look so happy to see me?" He asked sarcastically, and was surprised when she just narrowed her eyes at him.

"You've dropped in and you're sober. I don't know if that has ever happened before." She teased taking a few steps closer to him. He smiled to her as she did, then took hold of one of her hands, just happy to know that she wasn't going to kick him out. "What are you doing here, Jon?"

"I just wanted to see you. I know that we said we were going to leave things a week ago. But I don't know if I can." He was honest about that, because he needed to tell her that their relationship mattered to him, and that it always would. There were so many things that he needed to do and his experiences in the Expanse had told him that he shouldn't pause and wait for things to happen.

Erika just looked at him with a look of utter confusion, and he didn't know what was unclear about his statement. She patted his cheek then walked to the sofa, motioning for him to come and sit next to her. It wasn't until he was settled that she started speaking. "Jonathan, we decided to leave it there for good reasons. You know I love you, but we can't."

"Why can't we? You were right, I'm not your superior any more. We're the same rank and we have the same responsibilities." He leant against her slightly, wanting to just hold onto her for a little while. "We're a good fit, we always have been. Let's just do it." He stroked her arm gently then took a chance, leaning forward and kissing her lightly. She almost immediately responded, then pulled him closer. He couldn't help but pull her over him, onto his lap. His hands slipped to her waist, while her hands tangled into hair then slid to his chest. He took a breath for air, and she rested her forehead against his. "I take it that means you agree with me?"

"In part. There is a lot for us to work out, Jon." She said, smiling a little as she played with the button at the top of his shirt, it was one of the little things she did that always made him smile, one of those things that made him fall in love with her over and over again. He just rested his hands on her hips with a smile, he knew he'd mostly convinced her already.

"Is there really? I love you, you love me. We keep it silent, and nobody needs to know." He smiled, and a moment later he just grinned as she groaned, it was obvious that he'd won now. This wasn't exactly how he'd planned on tonight going, but it certainly worked. He had really just wanted to see her again, and as the conversation had started it had seemed the perfect chance to do this.

"OK." She muttered before kissing him again. All he could do now was be amazed that she'd been so easily convinced that what they felt for each other was worth everything they were agreeing to risk. He knew this was worth it, he knew that the light and comfort she brought to him was worth what he was willing to put on the line, and he hoped the same could be said of her. She wouldn't be here if she wasn't willing to risk it too.   


	2. Chapter 2

**Friday, Week Two**

Erika Hernandez hadn't slept so well in a very long time, and on waking up it was obvious why. Up on the mountain she hadn't had the chance to just lay there and realise that this meant something. They had been up and moving as soon as they'd woken up. Here she had the chance to think on being laid in his arms.

For the last several years they'd been apart, and she'd thought she was over him. They were back to just being friends. She had held a grudge for a while at the beginning. Pissed that to both of them their careers had meant more to them than what they'd had. She'd wanted so much for them, and they'd given it up.

She rolled her shoulders as she slipped out of Jon's arms, his breathing not changing at all. He was asleep, and deeply. She wasn't going to wake him up, as she knew he was struggling to sleep, so now he was out it wasn't worth disrupting him.

Jonathan Archer had been an enigma for her since she was 24. For the last 14 years she had struggled to know exactly what he was to her. He was her best friend, she knew that, he was someone she cared deeply for, someone she loved unconditionally. Their relationship had grown out of the friendship, and it meant so much to her. She didn't think she could cope with losing him again.

The night before she hadn't really asked what had brought him to her apartment, she still didn't know. He'd brought her favourite wine and everything, a bottle they hadn't even opened. Things moving quicker than that, they’d been asleep almost as soon as they’d gotten into bed.

What was it about him that kept her thinking. She had said they had a lot to work out, and she had a lot to work out herself. She put some water on to boil, thinking that a cup of tea might warm her hands up enough that she could get back into bed and maybe get some more sleep herself. It gave her time to think too. Did she want to be in a relationship with Jonathan?

Quickly and simply, the answer was yes. She still loved him, that had never changed, and she still found him sexy as hell. They still shared things in common, and were just different enough to keep it interesting. She wanted to keep everything they were to one another, and would fight for it, but was she ready to risk her career for him.

The truth was she already had. More than once. She made the tea and just stood there, still thinking. Not really able to pull herself from the spot. It was cold out of the bed, Spring not quite hitting yet, leaving a slight chill in the air. More pronounced for her, since she'd never really adjusted to the colder temperatures of places that weren't her hometown in southern New Mexico. She wandered around the counter and looked out over the dawn bustle of San Francisco, the light only just beginning to touch the streets.

She almost jumped when two arms wrapped around her waist from behind, but after a second she smiled, relaxing back into Jon's arms. Marvelling once again how easily they fit together when stood in this position. He rested his chin on the top of her head and smiled, his eyes meeting hers in the window reflection. “You weren't in bed when I woke up.”

“I wanted some tea.” She held her mug up for good measure. He gave her an unreadable look, and she wasn't sure what to say. He seemed to know without asking, and that didn't surprise her at all. He knew her as well as she knew him.

“Erika-” he started, stepping back a few steps to allow her to turn around and look at him too. There was no point continuing to play innocent. He knew her better than that, so the likelihood of him buying it was negligible.

So she took a deep breath and looked at him. Deciding the honesty, at least right now, was the best policy. “I was just thinking about you, about us.” He took another look at her, and she smiled as best she could.

After a second he seemed to realise she wasn't going to say anything more without prompting. “Am I going to be happy with it?”

“I don't know. Because I didn't make a decision.” That was a bit of a lie. She knew what she wanted. That wasn't quite a decision, but she knew that she wasn't going to be able to deny that side of it either. She wanted Jonathan in her life, and she was willing to risk almost anything for that. He just looked at her again, then turned around and walked around the counter into the kitchen.

“Don't rush. I'll still be here when you decide.” Jon smiled, making himself a mug with the leftover water then coming back around, leaning against the counter back in front of her. She smiled back and nodded, glad that at least he wasn't going to pressure her to decide, even though she had already talked herself into it. “I should get to Command.”

That reminded her, they both had other commitments, no matter how much she would have liked to go back to bed they both needed to do other things today. “Yeah, I need to go to _Columbia_.” She hadn't been up to her ship in a couple of days, and she wanted to make sure everything was going well there.

“Are you free tonight?” Jon asked, pulling her gently back into his arms. Being held there was something she enjoyed, something comfortable. Long before they had a relationship they had held one another like this and it had always made her feel safe. She knew many women didn't like to admit they enjoyed being hugged like this, but she did and he knew it.

She mentally ran through her plans for this week, but she was pretty sure that once she returned to Earth she had nothing planned. She had promised Veronica another night out, to make up for the one she had abandoned when Jon had returned home. She had a few meetings she'd rescheduled due to going climbing with him, but otherwise her social calendar was pretty bare. “I should be.” She confirmed after a few minutes, and she almost hit him when Jon smirked. Making it obvious he had a plan for the night she wasn't yet privy too.

“Wear that nice dress. I'm taking you out. Let's celebrate my homecoming properly.” He smiled and kissed her forehead before leaning down and kissing her deeply. She was taken aback for a moment, and when he pulled away she just stood there with her eyes closed, trying to think for a moment longer about why she was even debating this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Friday, Week Two**

He had wondered if Erika would be ready to actually talk tonight. It didn’t really matter to him either way. He had wanted to celebrate her promotion with her in a proper setting, not to mention his return from the Expanse, and her decision that they would at least talk about where they were going and what they were doing. He had made reservations at their usual restaurant, and had found what few non-uniform clothing options he had in his apartment, then set out to hers, ready to walk her to their destination. “That's a new one.” He smiled as she came out of the door, and it was obvious that she didn’t understand at first.

She looked down the steps at him with sheer confusion. Not that he blamed her entirely. He probably remembered her dresses far too well. This one was definitely new since they’d last seen each other outside of Starfleet attire. “You weren't specific about which dress.” Erika muttered after a moment of thinking over his statement.

“We're not going anywhere special, Rike.” He said, wondering if she was looking maybe a little too dressed up for the occasion. Then again he was actually in a shirt that had all it’s buttons. Which was an achievement in itself.

“I didn't wear this for the place.” She commented, and that cheered him a little. He kept watching her for a second as she span round to check the door again.

“I'm flattered.” He grinned, smiling as she completed her spin and glared at him.

Once she stopped she just gave him one of the greatest ‘you have to be kidding’ looks he could remember getting in his life, and it reminded him that Erika wasn’t the kind of person who tried to impress people who didn’t deserve it. “Didn't wear it for you either.”

“Now I'm less flattered.” He gave an exaggerated frown, laughing as she punched him in the arm lightly.

“Well, what can I say I like to be pretty.” She grinned again, falling into step beside him and linking her arm through his. It had been a long time since they’d walked like this, and he was enjoying it already.

They set off walking together in the direction of the restaurant. It was a long way away, but that was why he’d made the reservations for so late. When they’d been dating, and living in what was now her apartment, one of the best things about a busy week drawing to a close was this long walk to their favourite restaurant. After a few minutes of walking arm in arm he’d slipped down and taken hold of her hand instead, threading his fingers through hers as he did. He wasn’t even sure what story they were laughing at now, but he was just enjoying hearing Erika laugh.

“Captain.” He heard in a familiar voice, his attention was drawn away from Erika’s lilting laugh as he realised it was someone addressing him. At least the voice was from a senior officer, someone he could be a little happy to see, even if it was a little strange seeing any of them here. They all lived in the same city, why hadn’t it occurred to him that they may run into someone they knew.

“Hoshi, Travis.” He smiled, stopping short of them and smiling, then motioned to Erika who was still beside him. He doubted either of them had met her, despite Erika's meddling to get Hoshi assigned to _Enterprise_ . “This is Captain Hernandez from _Columbia_.”

“Oh, Captain, hi.” Hoshi was the first one to say anything, and then they both smiled. Erika returned it a second later, but he could tell they were both feeling a little busted. Their night out made infinitely more complicated by this chance meeting.

“Hello ensigns.” Erika replied with a smile then looked up at him and tugged his hand gently. “Jon, we'll be late.” She encouraged him onward, either she was hungry, or she just didn't want to be waylaid by two junior officers. He'd ask them what they were doing when they all returned to the ship.

“Of course. I'll see you both later.” He smiled to the two curious ensigns then walked around them, letting Erika guide him in the direction of the restaurant.

Erika grinned, and when they were a few steps away she nudged him with her elbow, holding his hand tightly still. “Well, that was awkward. I don't think they expected to run into you.” It amused him as much more than anything that she was able to guess that. It wasn't that surprising really was it, she was always more intuitive than he.

So he just smirked and shook his head. Laughing as he did. “Probably not. It's like running into your schoolteacher when you're not in school.”

“I guess.” She muttered, and he had to admit, seeing the two had definitely thrown him off his game.

Jon couldn't help but look after the two chuckling ensigns over their shoulder. He couldn't help but feel there would be some new gossip tomorrow. “We might not be as secret as we wanted.”

“Why not?” She asked, and he lifted their hands, still clasped tightly together. He hadn't wanted to let her go, even though they had been trying to keep things quiet. “Oh, yeah. That would say, probably not.” She smiled and squeezed his hand before continuing on after him.

“They'll keep it quiet, don't worry.” He tried to reassure her, understanding that she might be worried. They weren’t sure what they were to one another yet, having to try and justify it to anybody else was too much, and was definitely far more than he was ready to do, and he was the one pushing for this.

“I hope.” Erika looked down a moment, and for a second Jon wondered if she was checking where she was placing her feet. Then it lasted a few seconds too long, and he realised she was worrying either that he was wrong about Travis and Hoshi, or that someone else might see them. Given where they were, he was more willing to bet on it being the latter.

“We could always _not_ walk like a couple?” He was joking, though if Erika wanted them to stop he would. He looked at her as she pulled one of her ‘thoughtful’ expressions, which she generally did to tease him. But he still found himself just hoping that she wouldn’t drop his hand.

Instead she did the opposite and held it tighter. Lifting his hand to her cheek and smiling. “Oh no, I don't think I’d like that.”

“Erika?” He asked, knowing that what she said was telling him something, but he wasn't entirely certain what she was saying.

“Jonathan. Look. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, I know that. I hide my feelings and I don't like talking about things.” He stopped walking as she spoke, looking at her seriously. Was she going to tell him what she was really thinking this morning? He was about to argue with her about he characterisation of herself, but it didn't seem she was going to let him. “But I told you this morning I was thinking about things, and I have. This, all of this, reminds me how happy we were, and I want that again.” Her words told him that she'd decided. That wasn't completely surprising and he was relieved to hear that she wasn't telling him they were done, exactly the opposite.

“Are you telling me we're all in?” He asked. He'd wanted to give Erika all the chance to think. He knew, he'd always known, that they had something special, and he never wanted to miss that, or lose it again. Erika smiled at him and squeezed his hand as she slipped it her's back around his fingers.

“Let's see how things go while you're on Earth, but for right now, tonight, I'm in.” She smiled as he leant down and picked her up, spinning her around before kissing her strongly. Being in public made him want to shy away from this, but he also didn't want to stop. They were both in their civilian clothes, so hopefully they wouldn't be noticed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wee bit of smut here... XD

** Friday, Week Two:  **

As her back hit the wall Erika couldn't help but think about everything that had brought her to this moment. This singular moment that was going to change everything for the both of them. They'd talked over dinner, but it hadn't been about the important things they needed to talk about. That was why she'd invited him back to her place. To talk, to share their last ideas. That wasn't what was happening. Instead they had walked into her apartment, and the moment the door had shut they had been all over each other. Maybe it was the fact they'd been out for so long, maybe it was them being seen by two of Jon's crew earlier, whatever it was she knew what was happening. This was their choice.

His lips slid to her neck, and she gave up trying to rationalise what was happening. They had never been the easiest couple to rationalise. From the moment they met they'd had this chemistry, and everyone knew there was something more to them, and right now she was being reminded both why they worked and why they didn't talk so much in private.

She groaned a little, her hands slipping through his hair as she decided to go with the flow. There was still plenty of time to talk, there was always time.

“I don't think I can live without this now.” Jon moaned against her throat a moment later, and it took her a second to register what he said, she was too washed away in what they were doing to really think it through either. She just knew that she didn't want to live without this, or live without him. She shook it off, definitely thinking that this wasn't the time to break it down.

Instead she kissed him hard, and started unbuttoning his shirt, running her fingers over the new scars that marred his skin since they'd first been together. The visual reminders of everything he'd done in the Expanse. She didn’t need any more reminders of the Expanse, neither of them did.

“I missed you.” She admitted, it was easier to tell him that when they were like this. When they were the closest two people could be. He paused for just a second to look up at her, and he pressed himself a little closer, pulling her dress up over her head then kissing her again.

Things slowed down, and they became less frantic as he held her hands above her head with one hand as the other fumbled for a moment with the clasp on her bra, then threw it aside, his lips slid from hers to her cheek, her neck. He slid his free hand below the lace of the panties she'd worn. Her breath hitched as he trailed his fingers along the sensitive skin. “I missed you too.” He muttered just as he pushed one finger into her, causing her to yelp a little, out of surprise. He paused and she just kissed him again, enjoying the feeling of him inside her as much as she always had.

He slowly started pushing his fingers in, one, then another, all the while massaging her clit with his thumb. Her breath started coming in gasps, and she kissed and nibbled along his neck, his collarbone, all the ways he enjoyed too. This was as familiar as everything else they did together. Familiar and comforting and earth shattering all at once. It was hard to focus on anything for her right now, she wasn't even sure how she was still standing.

“Gods, Jonathan.” She cried out, always amazed at how quickly he could bring her up to a boiling point with just his fingers. It was something she'd never experienced until they'd gotten together, then it seemed instinctual. They both knew what the other liked, and she was glad to see that 4 years apart hadn't dulled that knowledge, that connection. She shuddered again as his fingers brushed in and out of her, much slower now, helping her down gently. She sagged against his chest for a second, catching her breath and relaxing her arms. She wrapped herself around him, smiling a little as he lead her through the apartment, barely breaking their embrace for even a second.

When they hit the bed it was her turn to take control, as she always did. Jon grinned at her as she pulled his jeans down, and she was slightly pleased when his blue shorts went with them. She kissed him hard, smiling as he through the duvet over her, just like he always did, making sure she was warm enough at the same time. She slowly kissed down his body, unable not to giggle as he tried to make her more comfortable and just succeeded in slapping her on the cheek.

She took him in her mouth swirling her tongue around him as she did, and there was something ever so satisfying at hearing his groan. There was a rhythm to doing this, something she had learnt long ago. It was always quite nice to hear his moans, and to feel him squirming under her ministrations. She knew where the cut-off was. Where she needed to stop, taking a breath she hovered over him and smiled, lowering herself onto him.

They both shuddered as she settled against his pelvis, taking him as deeply as she could, leaning down to kiss him. A second later he flipped her onto her back, his arms still wrapped around her. There was a serene pleasure to the slow pace they set. More often than not now they had this calmness around them, not needing it to be as all encompassing as it had been when they were younger.

Jon started levering in and out of her to the speed of their breathing, the pleasure coming from the strength and sureness he put into his strokes, she moaned as she started building up again. The quicker their breathing got the quicker Jon moved, and she began arching her hips to meet him. Every movement in complete synchronisation. She breathed heavily, pressing her forehead against his, enjoying every second of it. She heard herself mumbling confessions as she got closer, his reply being to kiss her again. The only thing that mattered to her right then was him. Their shared laughter, helping them both forget the ordeal Jonathan had been through.

Finally she couldn't hold back any longer, and everything exploded around her, she was only partially aware of letting out a scream, but all she could see and hear and feel for a moment was her own feeling, and the man who had brought her to this point. She heard his reciprocal shout and felt his shuddering body coming to a still against hers. She took another few breaths, burying her head momentarily into the crook of Jon's neck and kissing the skin there.

“I love you.” He sighed as he rolled off her and pulled her against him. She didn't doubt his feelings for a second, not even an instant. She just knew.

“I know.” She paused for a second then kissed him gently, lifting his chin. For as long as she could remember those three words had terrified her, because she'd never been able to quantify love. But since Jonathan had come into her life the first time she'd learnt not to be afraid of it, because she knew if you loved someone, you didn't need to quantify it. “Me too.”

She was just getting comfortable, her stomach finally settling from the backflips it had been doing when Jon spoke again, quietly, but loud enough for her to hear it. “Can I stay here tonight?”

“You were planning on leaving?” She asked seriously, not sure what she should think of that after what they'd just done, for the first time since returning from the mountain. They'd shared a bed, but making love had been something they'd avoided so as not to complicate their position. Maybe that had been a mistake.

“Not really but I thought I should ask.” He mumbled, kissing her deeply. She felt calm, content. This had definitely been what they needed. Maybe they still hadn't had that serious discussion they'd been planning, but they had worked something out.

“Good choice.” She whispered as they rolled together, snuggling a little closer to him. She enjoyed this feeling of familiarity and warmth that she got when she curled up with Jonathan. Why was she so afraid of letting him back in in a permanent fashion. Why was she so against it. She needed to let go, now, and they could work on things before he left again. If he was in, she was in. They could do this.


	5. Chapter 5

**Saturday, Week Two**

The night before had been a strange night, but Jon didn't want to change it. He knew that the choice Erika had made was still preliminary. She wanted to see how things went while he was on Earth, which he would be for a few more weeks, but after that was still open. He didn't want that to be the case, but he also knew that pushing Erika was never advisable. She would make up her mind for good in time. Meeting Hoshi and Travis had certainly thrown them off for a minute, then she'd told him that she was in. They'd celebrated things. His return, her promotion, a new start for the two of them.

He wasn't sure what had come over him when he'd gotten back to her apartment. He certainly hadn't planned on pinning her against the door, but when it had happened it had seemed the most natural thing. They ended up having a pretty thorough workout, he had to admit. It had been slower than anything on the mountain. Back there it had been frantic, the movements of people reconnecting, certain it was all going to end soon. The night before had been much slower, they'd been rediscovering one another. Remembering what they liked, what they didn't. Sex for them had always been mindblowing and meaningful, but he'd known last night as he fell asleep that on some level they were built for each other.

Laying there, Erika softly breathing beside him, was the most content he'd been since long before the Expanse. He still struggled to believe that Erika had chosen to be with him, had chosen to take his demons on and save him. She was there fighting with him as he tried to shrug everything off. He had been through more in the Expanse than even he realised, and sometimes he wasn't sure how to deal with them. So far every time one of those thoughts or nightmares had come on, Erika had been beside him, and she'd helped him through it.

He was still just watching her as her breathing changed, and she looked up. He met her big brown eyes and had to smile. She was so beautiful, even when only just waking up. He leant forward and kissed her gently then pulled back, smiling again. “Morning.”

Erika stretched out then rolled over to face him. “Good morning. Have you got any plans for today?” She asked quietly. A smile climbing her cheeks as she did. He knew that she wouldn't really care about his answer so long as he didn't leave yet.

Her question was a good one. Did he really have anywhere he _needed_ to be today. There was nowhere pressing. He was still on leave for another week or two, so going up to _Enterprise_ wasn't advisable, and the only thing he needed to do was get ready for a trip. “I need to pack. I promised I'd go visit my mother. I'm taking next week.”

Erika pulled a face, and he remembered how the two women didn't really get on in person. Erika respected Sally Archer, and Sally had actually liked Erika, their personalities just often clashed. They always tried for him, but they were rarely successful. “Oh, fun times for you.” The sarcasm in the reply had him rolling his eyes. It wasn’t as though the two women never did anything together. They were more similar than they probably wanted to admit.

Then again. They had spent time together recently, without his prompting. That was still one of the biggest surprises of his time in the Expanse, getting a letter from his mother and Erika, at the same time. “You spent last Christmas with her and you both survived!”

“That's true, she missed you and didn't have anywhere else to go, I wasn't going to turn her away.” Erika’s smile reminded him of all the other times she’d done that. For him and for many of their mutual friends. She hated to leave people alone. “So you're going for a few days?” She asked, and he just nodded then kissed her gently before pulling back.

“Yeah. She wants to know I'm alright after everything that happened.” He picked up Erika’s hand then threaded his fingers through hers. Just watching how their hands looked when clasped together. Erika was watching as well, but he knew she was just waiting for him to go on. She pulled his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles then smiled at him. Giving him the encouragement to continue. “I might go visit my dad while I'm there too.”

“Tell him that you saved Earth?” Her question wasn’t mean or malicious, but for some reason it still caused yet another shiver of self-doubt to course through him. He hated feeling like this. Like he had done a lot of wrong, a lot of bad things. He didn’t want his father to know about those.

As the silence dragged on he realised he needed to say something, anything, just so he didn’t end up hating himself again. Erika had helped pull him out of that hole once, but it was still too easy for him to fall back into it. “Something like that.”

Erika, as always, knew exactly where his thoughts were. She just smiled at him and he knew she was still there, supporting him like always. “You did a good thing, Jon.” She whispered then laid back, squeezing the hand she still held tightly. “Be proud of yourself Jonathan. I'm proud of you.”

“Thank you,” he muttered. That was what he’d needed to hear. That someone was proud of him, that someone knew he’d done all he could, and Erika knew everything. That was a definite upside to her position. She knew everything he’d done. If she could still love him, still be proud of him, while knowing everything that he’d done. Maybe he had things to be proud of still. He took a breath and then kissed her hand this time, and changed the subject again, back to their plans. “I'll be back on Friday. What are your plans for today?”

“It's Saturday, right? I don't think I have any. I need to take some more things up to _Columbia_ in preparation but I'm going to do that Monday.” Erika got an impish smile on her face, and there was a hint of amused laughter there from the start. Whatever she was thinking, he felt he was probably going to love it. “Want some company while you pack?”

“You always used to get annoyed at how I packed?” He commented with a frown. She’d threatened to beat him with his bag once. It had been hilarious, but she had sworn she’d never help him pack again.

“I can try and help at least.” She smiled sweetly, and he just smirked, he wasn’t going to turn down her company, or her help packing. He nodded, giving her a clear indication that he wanted her with him. After a few moments she grinned again and spoke. “Let's do that later though. I don't think I want to move yet.” She then leant up and kissed him hard. He was as able to read the signs as anyone, and he was quite happy to agree to Erika's request. Wasting a Saturday morning in bed seemed fair to him, especially after the last year. It also meant he didn't have to think about what he was going to say to his mother about everything that had happened.


	6. Chapter 6

** Tuesday, Week Three  **

Erika had only agreed to join Veronica for a drink in the 602 Club because she didn't want to spend the day alone, but right now she was regretting her decision. It seemed like everyone in Starfleet wanted to know about her relationship. At least everyone above the rank of Commander. She was a little fed up of having to tell everyone that she and Jonathan weren't a couple. She'd hoped that a quiet drink with Veronica to honour their friend a year after his death would be without questions. She'd been proven wrong. “You and Jonathan seem cozy.”

“Don’t start, Ronnie.” She groaned, shaking her head. It was annoying enough that Jon had only been gone to his mothers for a day and a half and she was already missing him. She missed waking up in bed with him curled up beside her, and she missed his teasing, and his reading over her shoulder. She was definitely in too deep right now, and she wasn't sure she could cope with Veronica's commentary.

“Not starting, I think it’s adorable. You two have always suited each other.”

“It’s been different. I admit. Not at all like before. But still good, really good.” She felt the need to clarify, that just because it was different doesn't mean it was worse, or better. It was just different.

“You’re older now, both of you.” Veronica commented, waving over another drink from the bar. Probably not the best of choices.

She just turned and glared. It had only been 4 years. “Not that much older.”

“I don’t know about that. Jon seems a lot older.” OK, Erika couldn't argue with that. The optimistic puppy she'd lived with before had been replaced with a more cautious and realistic man, but she loved them both the same. She smiled a little then Veronica leant in closer, dropping her voice as she did. “Do you ever worry what happened to them will happen to us?”

“No.” She answered straight away. Barely having to even think.

“Really?” Veronica sounded surprised. Erika couldn't really blame her. Starfleet on the whole was seeing negative things from  _ Enterprise _ 's mission to the Expanse. The personnel losses, the damage to ship and crew. Erika looked beyond that. Maybe it was spending so much time with Jonathan, or maybe it was just her optimistic outlook on life, but she could see the positives. The experience, the knowledge, the gains. The Expanse was no more, the Xindi threat was ended, along with another threat they hadn't even known existed. It had been a win, whichever way she looked at it.

“Yes. I think about it, but I don’t really worry about it. Jonathan had a really shit time out there, that's no big surprise, but they did what they needed to do. I'd be OK with doing that well.”  Enterprise made it home, they did their duty, and on top of it all they did a damn good job of it. If  _ Columbia _ was only half as successful Erika would be happy.

“He's really had an impact on you.” Veronica smiled, and all Erika could do was shake her head and scoff. “No, he has. You've seemed brighter, since he's been back. Are you actually together?” That was the clearest anyone had asked her, and it made it easier to think of an answer. Also she didn't have to censor herself to Veronica, she could speak what was on her mind. Especially since the two of them were being largely ignored by everyone in the bar.

“I'm not sure. He wants to be, I do too truth be told.” That was the clearest she'd ever answered it, too. But Veronica would demand the truth anyway, and like all good XOs she could tell when Erika was talking out her ass.

She wasn't going to let that comment pass though. “Then why aren't you?”

“I told him that while he was on Earth it was going to be an experiment. A trial run. To see if we work in a relationship still.” She still thought that was the best plan for them. Even though by this point she knew they both wanted the same thing.

“And?”

She just looked at Veronica incredulously. How was she supposed to know that in four days. Four days. “It's only been 4 days since we started spending time together.”

“What about your mountain trip. You started that 2 weeks ago. Surely that counts?” Veronica asked, and it probably should, but somehow it didn't.

She shook her head, the only reason she didn't count it was that 5 day gap where they didn't see each other and didn't speak. Those days had been confusing, but maybe ultimately for the best. That was when she'd realised she wanted Jon in her life. “It would, if we had seen each other right away when we got back. Instead he waited 5 days.”

“You waited 5 days too Erika.” Veronica pointed out, and Erika hated that, technically, she was right. They'd  _ both _ waited 5 days. Not just him.

“I thought he just wanted to leave it on the mountain. Some kind of, physical comfort that he'd needed and we'd go back to being friends. That's not what happened." She smiled and looked down into her glass, reliving all of Friday night in detail. It had been perfect.

"So you two have done the do since?" Veronica asked with a smirk. Ah, routine. It wouldn't be a night out with Veronica Fletcher if she wasn't asking leading personal questions.

"Friday night. That's the only time. We were waiting so as not to make things more confused. Then we went out for a meal and got back to my place and it was the most natural end to a night like that. It just happened and it actually helped my decision, weirdly enough. I do want to be with him, but there are career concerns, for both of us."

“Captain Hernandez!” Was called, and Erika looked up, seeing one of the two ensigns from Friday's encounter. He'd obviously looked her up when they got back to the ship.

“Hello ensign, you're one of Jon's crew, right?” She clarified, even though she probably didn't need too, like the others at a nearby table she recognised the mission patch on the arm of his jacket, almost as easily as she recognised _Columbia_ 's patch anywhere.

“Ensign Mayweather, yes sir, ma'am, Captain.” He stumbled over how to address her, managing to cover all the bases at once. It was quite sweet.

She did think it was probably best to put him out of his misery as best she could. “Captain is fine, ensign.”

“Yes Captain, I'm his pilot.” Mayweather managed to take up the thread of her conversation pretty quickly.

Veronica snorted and shook her head, mumbling probably louder than she intended. “I bet that's a laugh riot with Jon on the ship.”

“Sorry, Ensign, this is my XO, Commander Fletcher." She waved a hand in Veronica's direction. "Are you enjoying your leave?” She felt small talk was the most polite to do until he actually got to the point of his approaching her. He'd get there before long, she was sure.

“Very much. Captain.” Mayweather took a breath and shot a look at his friends, all of whom were looking over at them with a great amount of interest. “I've been sent over because, well, we've been trying to get in contact with Captain Archer today, and we can't seem to reach him. Do you know where he is?” Well, this was the beginning of the end, wasn’t it. At least they all seemed to think she was just Jon’s friend. That was helpful.

They probably would until her next comment, but Jon had made it very, very clear he didn't want anyone finding him at his mothers'. He and Sally needed some time together too. Despite Jon being in his 40s now, Sally Archer was still the most overprotective momma Erika knew of. “I do. I'll be speaking to him tomorrow, do you want me to ask him to contact you?” At least she asked.

“Yes please, ma'am. It's not urgent, but we'd still like to talk to him.”

“Sure. Enjoy your evening.” She nodded. Trying to dismiss the Ensign politely, she wasn't sure it worked.

“You too ma'am.” Mayweather smiled then headed back to his original table. Erika didn't even need to look at Veronica to know what the other woman was thinking, and what she was about to say.

“Well. That was fun. He's cute.”

“He's too young for you.” The ensign couldn't have been any older than 27. Veronica tended to prefer older, and tended to prefer women.

“I was thinking about for my cousin.” Veronica defended with a grin then shook her head and turned back to Erika seriously. She knew that their previous conversation wasn't done just because it had been interrupted. “Anyway. You and Jon should just go for it. No come on Erika you two are made for each other.” She banged her hand on the table, and all Erika did was stare at her a second. Not really eager to revisit the topic.

“Hey, come on. We should go see Ruby, now we've had our drink for the anniversary.” She downed the drink and frowned, suddenly remembering why she hadn't wanted to be alone.

“Yeah, we should." Veronica lifted her glass into the air and looked up with a frown. "I miss you AG you crazy bastard.”

“You're a crazy bastard.” Erika commented and finished her drink, shaking her head all the while then heading for the back stairs that led to the apartment above the bar. She shouldn't be surprised that Veronica was pushing her to reconnect with Jon, everyone else seemed to be too. Had been since the day Enterprise got home. Maybe she should just embrace it. It was going to be easier than anything else. Plus she really did love Jonathan, and it would be nice to have someone who would never turn down her call if she got the chance. It was time she stopped letting fear run her life.


	7. Chapter 7

** Thursday, Week 3 **

He'd been home for three days and the whole time he had avoided talking with Sally about too much serious. He had told her all about his friends, his crew. The declassified parts of the mission that he could talk about, the parts that weren't going to get one or the other of them arrested and thrown in prison. He told her more about the mission before the Expanse, the planets and the species they'd made friends with. He'd also dodged any and all questions about his relationship status, though for the first time he could remember, Sally Archer had avoided that topic mostly too. He had sat down to breakfast today and his mind had slipped back to Erika, they'd spoken the night before and he'd realised how much he was missing her, and they hadn't been apart for long. “I'm not saying it hasn't been nice to have you home, Jonathan, but you seem pretty far away?” He heard from a distance, and his mind snapped back to the present and his mother was just staring at him, a look of concern on her face.

He looked up and wondered if he should tell her what was going on, but he also wasn't sure if he was ready for her to tell him that he should let go. “I'm just thinking ma.” He settled on, thinking it would explain it without saying what he was thinking about.

“Oh. Who is she?” Sally asked with a tone that didn't give him much of an out.

How did she know he had been in his head about Erika? He had clearly not remembered how well his mother knew him. It reminded him of being a teenager, and he grinned to himself. He still wanted to know how she knew now. It had been a long time since he was a teenager. “What makes you think it's a she?”

“Because Starfleet passed you clear at the debriefing. I still have my sources in Starfleet. You also keep grinning. Who is she?” Sally persisted, and Jon should have known she wouldn't let him off that easily. Of course she wouldn't.

He didn't want to reveal he was debating about Erika again. She had listened to him flip flop over her for two years a decade ago, and he was sure that it would lead to another lengthy discussion. Maybe not right now, but in future. “Nobody new.” He tried, wondering If she'd jump to Erika immediately.

Sally just stopped and looked at him seriously. “Not Rebecca.”

Jon couldn't help but burst out laughing at the combined look of both horror and disgust that Sally managed to have. He knew that out of everyone he had ever dated, Sally had disliked Rebecca the most, actually on a level with how much she had disliked Jon's decision to join Starfleet, though she had mellowed on her dislike of his career in the decades since. At least he could cheer her up on that point. “No, ma. It's not Rebecca. I'm pretty sure she's married now anyway.” He had heard rumours of that but he didn't know for sure. He should find that out.

She unfroze after a second and smiled, though this time it looked more like she was thinking a really evil thought. Probably about whoever had married Rebecca. “Really?”

“Yes.” He wasn't going to clarify and give her more ammunition to be horrible about his ex. Considering it had been a decade.

After a few minutes of chuckling she looked at him seriously. “Then it must be Erika. What's she doing these days?” That question was not exactly what he'd expected when it came to Sally thinking about Erika. Though the two women didn't get along, they didn't dislike each other either. Still he hadn't expected her to be so cheerful about the fact he was thinking about Erika Hernandez.

He was proud of where Erika was now, however, and he was sure that was going to show through as he spoke. Not that he was going to be ashamed of that either. “She's a Captain, got the NX02.” He felt the grin growing as he spoke, and was glad to see it was returned by Sally.

Sally nodded, finishing off her bowl of fruit with another smile. “I liked Erika. She was intelligent and thoughtful, and she thought the world of you.” She glared at him a little there, and it was obvious she was accusing him. Sally had known what Erika had thought of him, and he wondered if Sally was actually annoyed that he and Erika weren't together? That would be the surprise of the century. “Why did you two stop seeing each other?”

He grimaced, not wanting to go over that question again. It had been bad enough two weeks earlier when Erika had asked him the same question. Though that had been followed by something very pleasurable. “I was promoted, she wasn't. It wasn't appropriate anymore.”

Sally grasped that immediately and nodded, then smiled. “And now it is again are you two seeing each other?”

“We're the Captains of the only two Warp 5 ships.” The irony of his seriously repeating one of Erika's comments two weeks previously struck him almost immediately. He now knew that Starfleet almost certainly wouldn't be supportive of them, but he still didn't want to give up on a possible future between them.

Sally, it seemed, knew exactly what he was thinking, somehow. “Don't put off happiness because of a technicality Jonathan.” She advised, and he nodded. He trailed off to think. He didn't want to put anything off and he didn't want to lose Erika again, but at the same time he didn't want to risk both their careers. Would they be risking their careers? That was another question entirely.

That was when he realised, his mother was pushing for one of his girlfriends. Something she had never done before. “I never thought I'd hear you advocating for one of my girlfriends.”

She scoffed and slipped offer her stool, giving him a look that told him he was being dense. “We both know that Erika is more than just another one of them. I have to go to work, I'll be back later.”

He looked over his shoulder and watched as she pulled her briefcase out of a stack of papers beside the sofa. “I'm going out today, I'll be back tonight.”

“I'll make dinner.” Sally smiled then kissed his cheek. Jon just looked after her as she began searching for her bags, glad to see that no matter the time that passed she was still as disorganised as she always had been in his youth.

Jon had made the decision that morning that on his mothers' one day at work he'd go up to the cemetery in his hometown and think. It was apparently the place he could think and decide on things the best. So once she left she pulled on his jacket and started walking up there, hoping that it helped clear his head a little one way or the other.

There was a calmness here, where Henry Michael Archer had been buried. Jon had to admit his mother had picked a beautiful plot when she'd decided on here, and Jon always felt calmer when he visited. Right now he wasn't here to say anything, he was just here to think. To lay flowers and reflect on what he thought his father would have been thinking about his son right now. Would Henry have been proud of what he'd achieved, would he have been angry at the steps Jonathan had had to take to achieve it. Would it really matter one way or another?

What would Henry's advice be to his only child. Would he agree with his wife that he shouldn't sacrifice his happiness again, or would he remind Jon that the rules exist for a reason. Would he not care, and just want Jonathan to be happy. There were too many questions that Jon couldn't answer, because he just didn't know, and Henry was not able to fill them in. What Jon did know was that here and now he wanted to make his father proud, one of the driving forces of his life, but he also knew he needed to do things for himself. So his mind was made up. On this hillside with only the ghosts of those who resided here as company he made a decision, and that was the important moment. He'd decided.


	8. Chapter 8

** Friday, Week 3 **

In an almost identical repeat of the previous Friday night, Erika Hernandez found herself pinned against the furniture in her apartment. This time it was a slightly more planned manoeuvre, but that still wasn't changing the fact that they were together. It amused her in slightly disturbed ways that it had been almost exactly a week. Today they hadn't been on a date, or even out at all. Once Jon had got back from New York they had collapsed onto her sofa and started watching crappy movies.

They had talked in depth about his mother, and about his friends from his summers spent there when he was younger. Erika always loved hearing those stories. They had been the beginning of this situation, he had moved closer and closer as they laughed, or maybe she'd moved closer. Then the next thing she knew, his lips had been on hers and they were lowering to laying on her sofa.

She shifted slightly so she was in a more comfortable position, then ended up smiling into another kiss. Whether or not this had been planned, after almost a week of not seeing him she wasn't going to complain. She made quick work of his shirt, throwing it across her apartment to find at another time. He took more care with hers, even though at this point she'd only been wearing her pyjamas. It was nice to have him almost pinned to her front, especially in the chill of her apartment. He rolled her shorts off, and all she could do was giggle as she kicked them aside.

“I missed you this week.” Jon muttered as he slid into her, and for a second she was completely speechless. It was too much for her to try and speak right this moment. She needed to allow her emotions and her hormones to settle again. They had been warring with her all week. She'd been trying to tell herself she could survive without Jonathan Archer, they had disagreed.

Jon kissed her again lightly, slipping out and then in again as he did, just enough to remind her that they were laid there together, and she could be honest. He wasn't going to judge her for anything. “I missed you too, I'm glad you're home.” She smiled as he pulled back a bit to look at her seriously, then returned her smile with extra wattage. Those were obviously the words he had been waiting to hear, and she was glad she could say them.

They laid as close together as they possibly could, her legs wrapped around his waist helping him hit all the right spots. She allowed herself to be washed away with the emotions and feelings. It was comfortable and familiar. When they were both spent, breathing heavily, Jon shifted the cushions from behind them and cuddled around her from behind, holding her tightly against him again.

She threaded her fingers through his as she snuggled back slightly, going back to look at whichever film it was they'd started ignoring to pay more attention to each other. That was when she realised that in a few days  _ Enterprise _ would have officially been home for a month, and would be halfway through the estimated repair schedule, which meant that soon Jon would be making the trip up to spacedock with her. They'd both be visiting their special ladies. “You're back on duty this week.”

“Yeah.” He muttered quietly, almost directly into her ear. She sighed a little, feeling more comfortable than anyone probably had a right to be.

If they were making the trip together, maybe she should show him the rest of her ship. They'd only seen the bridge last time before he'd been called away, and while their ships were almost identical, there were a lot of upgrades  _ Columbia _ had that  _ Enterprise _ didn't, and wouldn't be able to have, even with their upgrade. “Want to come and see  _ Columbia _ again?” She asked, she also just really liked showing her ship off.

“You'll let me back on your ship?” Jon laughed, and she could sense the grin on his face as he did.

“You only saw the bridge last time, I should show you the upgrades to the rest of the ship.” She smirked to herself and kissed the underside of his arm that was visible to her. It was comforting to have him there, and to know that he knew how it felt, being almost ready to launch but not being quit there yet. Plus, he and her ship were the most important things in her life for the moment, they needed to agree with each other. “I really want you two to get along.”

Jon made a little noise that generally indicated he was thinking, then kissed her cheek. “Monday we can do that. I have to go and pick Trip up from the shuttleport tomorrow.”

She had to think for a moment, she knew she had something on tomorrow, but what it was she wasn't sure. It probably had to do with mission prep, almost everything seemed to be mission prep right now. “I have a meeting with Gardner tomorrow too. Want to grab dinner at Lorenzo's when you're free.”

“Might have to tell you that in the morning, Trip's call made it sound like not all was good on Vulcan.” There was a little hint of worry in Jon's voice, and Erika wondered for a moment if Jon's long time friend had maybe been left alone.

“Poor guy.” She commented, not really thinking too much about the comment.

Jon sniggered a little against her ear again and squeezed her hand. “Have you ever met him?”

“Not in person, I know of him though. Through you and AG and some of the others from the programme.” That reminded her of the very polite refusal she'd gotten from him and a few others on Jon's crew over the last few weeks. “I have offered him a spot on my ship, full well knowing he'll turn it down. It's a matter of form, you know that. I have to offer even though I know they won't take it.”

“Hmm.” Jon mumbled then kissed her earlobe before settling back into almost silence, watching and laughing at the stupid comedy that was playing. Every so often she'd squeeze his hand, and get a reassuring squeeze in return. “Kiona Thayer.” Jon said the name out of the blue, and Erika just had to think a few minutes, but still wasn't getting the context.

“What?”

He shifted slightly and kissed her cheek again, then explained his comment. “For tactical, you asked who I thought for tactical.” No wonder she had been confused, she'd asked him for his recommendations for her crew weeks earlier.

“Three weeks ago! OK. Thayer. I'll set up an interview with her.”

“Good.” He curled down behind her, his arm tugging her waist against him closer, fitting into the bowl of his spoon better. She could happily sleep here all night, but considering the chill and the lack of blankets she knew that they were both going to need to run to the bed soon. She laid there until the cold was too much for her, at which point she kissed his arm then sat up.

“I'll race you to the bedroom. Last one in bed loses.” She wasn't sure what either of them would lose, but it was fun to race, and it would no doubt mean they'd collapse to the bed in a fit of giggles like usual. There was something great about that, and she'd be warm, under the covers with someone she loved very much. It was the best end to a Friday night she could imagine. 


	9. Chapter 9

** Saturday, Week 3 **

Trip had seemed more than a little morose since Jon had collected him. It wasn't really a common emotion for the engineer, and that had worried Jon more than a little. Trying to get anything out of him about what had happened on Vulcan. It wasn't seeming to be working so well, so maybe Trip hadn't had a great time, especially since he turned basically everything on Jon. He'd just ended up telling Trip about his entire trip to his mothers'. He avoided mentioning the previous two weeks with Erika, it didn't seem like this was the right time to mention it. So instead they'd walked largely in silence most of the way from the shuttleport. Apart from when Trip was asking questions. “Did you have a good time there?”

“I did. It was nice to see my mother again.” He smiled, it had been really nice to see his mother again, to spend time with her again. Even if he had spent most of the time there wanting to be back in San Francisco with Erika. He'd still had a good time catching up with her.

“How is she doing?” Trip asked with a laugh, and Jon had to remember how often his mother had caused problems for the NX team. They had all come to appreciate Sally Archer's occasional visits, even when they weren't happy with how she treated them. Now after all this time they asked about her.

“Cantankerous as usual. How was Vulcan?” He asked, a bit more directly this time. There were some things he got from his mother, one of them being his inability to stop pressing when he felt there was something he needed to know.

Trip didn't seem as happy to have the conversation turned back to him, however. “It was, you know-.” He trailed off with a shrug, and Jon knew when he should let something lie. Trip would tell the tale in his own time. That was a certainty.

“I won't ask again, tell me in your own time.” He made the point then stopped outside the apartment door, Trip fumbling for his keys as they did.

“Thanks. I'm just not ready to talk about it.” That told Jon there was indeed a story to the maudlin mood of his friend, he'd learn about it in time, he was sure.

“No need to explain. Did you speak to anyone else?”

“Hoshi checked up on me a few times after I called saying I was coming home. Think she was worried about me.” Trip smiled sadly and nodded his head gently. That didn't surprise him at all when it came to Hoshi. They walked through the door and Jon dropped to the sofa.

Jon chuckled and shook his head. Hoshi was always concerned about all the crew, and she often put them first. If she had heard that Trip was coming back to Earth ahead of schedule she'd have called him as often as she could to make sure he was OK. “That's our Hoshi. Always worried about her friends.”

“She did tell me an interesting rumour... About you and Captain Hernandez.” Trip gave him the first truly amused smirk since they'd met up, and somehow it didn't surprise him at all that someone would have mentioned the fact they'd be spotted out and about on more than one occasion. He wasn't going to start talking about everything now.

“What about us?” Yes, downplaying it was the way to go for now. Only this was his best friend, someone who might be able to knock some sense into him, one way or the other. Be it telling him to be sensible or reminding him that nobody was sensible and how they felt should come first.

Trip didn't seem to miss a beat on that gossip, nor on Jon’s wording. “The fact that there may  _ be _ an 'us'?” 

“Is that such a big deal?” This was definitely a test of opinions, but he really wanted to know how people would feel about them if they made the decision to actually go through with their relationship. Not that Trip was necessarily the best audience. 

Trip pulled a couple of bottles out of his fridge and handed one to Jon then sat down on the other end of the sofa. “With you two? Yeah. You’re the two Warp 5 captains.”

That was not what Jon had wanted to hear, even though he and Erika had both made the same point. His mother had told him to just go on with it. That didn’t take into account Starfleet. “Shit, you think people might have a problem with it?” He asked, of course people could have problems with it. 

“Starfleet might have a problem with it, our crew, probably not.” That was one thing Jon needed to hear, and Trip would know better than most what their crew thought. “I can’t say the same for Captain Hernandez’s crew though.” There was clearly a moment of unsureness there, but Jon knew they didn’t have to worry about Erika’s crew. 

Right this moment her crew consisted of herself and Veronica. Eventually, he was sure that she’d get a full crew. “She doesn’t really have a crew yet.”

Trip smiled at that then leant over a bit further. “You and her have a long history, I don’t think anyone could really make a problem out of it.” Trip pointed out, and they had. All of them did. Trip and Erika and many of the others. 

“We’ll just have to talk about it. Me and her, not me and you.” Hadn’t he and Erika talked about it enough, and was this really the conversation he wanted to be having with Trip right now. 

After a few moments Trip looked at him seriously, and that’s when Jon realised his friend might have more of an insight than he was given credit for. “Does she make you happy?”

“Trip, she’s the best thing about coming home for me.” He smiled again and shook his head. There was so much that he had struggled with that Erika had just known how to comfort him and help him. She was what he needed in his life. “She knows every decision I made in the Expanse, read every report and was literally at my debriefing, and she still spends most of her time with me. I don't get it, I'm not a nice man and she deserves so much more than me.”

Trip glared at him and he felt like he may have made the wrong choice in saying that. Or maybe he had not understood something here. “You don't get to make that decision for her, Jon. Like you say she knows you. She's heard the reports and I'm willing to wager by now she's seen all the scars. There is something in you, about you, that she sees that you don't.” OK, maybe Trip had a point there. If Erika saw something in him, then what right did he have to say about it.

So he took a breath and grinned at Trip. “You're getting good at pep talks.” 

“Only for other people I make myself miserable.”

“We should go out tonight.” Jon thought out loud, then smiled, remembering all the gossip Erika had shared with him the night before about their friends and colleagues. “Duvall's in town, so is Veronica Fletcher. Didn't you once have a crush on her?”

“Yeah, but she's gay. Very, very, very gay.” Jon had known that at the time, but Trip had still tried to chase her. It had been hilarious watching him fall flat on his face several times in quick succession. At least Trip was laughing along with him. “It would be nice to see the old team.” Trip admitted a second later and Jon almost clapped. Trip seemed so down, if any single group of people could cheer him up it would be the old team from the NX programme. It would be the first test of if anyone knew he and Erika were back together.

“Be at the 602 at 8. Leave the rest to me.” Jon grinned, he knew that Erika would be able to help him rally the old NX team for drinks tonight, at least those who were in San Francisco. Especially with Sam Gardner's expect promotion to Admiral soon. It would be good for them all to get together and reminisce.


	10. Chapter 10

** Saturday, Week 3 **

Jonathan had organised this party to try and cheer his Chief Engineer up, and while Erika was glad of any reason to have a party, this wasn’t exactly her normal choice of social group. She had stood out like a thumb from this group when they had been working together every day, now she stood out even more, but at least she had her best friend and future XO stood with her. They were at the bar looking out and watching the group of pilots and engineers who were getting progressively drunker and louder the longer they sat there. “Please, please tell me none of these idiots are on the shortlist?” Veronica asked, echoing Erika’s thoughts as she did. 

The shortlist was pretty much set, and the only person in the room on it was Commander Tucker. Most people were a far higher rank than those who would willingly serve on a ship under her. Some of the shortlist did serve under these idiots though. “No, they aren't. I'd take Tucker if he ever wanted to leave  _ Enterprise _ but otherwise they are too high in rank.”

“Trip Tucker?” Veronica was clearly looking for clarification, so Erika just nodded. “He'll never leave Jon.”

“I know that, but still.” She shrugged. She didn’t actually expect to get any of her first choices, she’d had too much good luck already that Veronica had agreed to join her, and one of her old doctors, Johanna Metzger, was agreeing to sign on too. “I'll keep asking him. Not tonight though. Let him chat with his guys today.” She motioned in the direction of the group on the other side of the room. It made her happy to see them all so relaxed.

Veronica clearly followed Erika’s eyeline, and that lead to another one of the questions that Erika just really didn’t want to answer. “Are you going home with Jon tonight?”

“I have no idea.” That was honest. She didn’t know. She thought she probably would be going home with him, but it was far from certain. Jon’s place was closer to the bar, and she didn’t want to have to walk home alone. “I'm not really drinking enough to require it.”

There was another drink in front of Erika suddenly, and she just blinked a couple of times before she looked up to Veronica’s face. “Then drink more.”

“That's not the best advice.” She wasn’t certain getting drunk was a great idea, but it wasn’t that surprising that that was Veronica’s advice. It was normally Veronica’s advice.

“I like you and Jon together. You're a good couple.” Veronica had made that point before too, but it didn’t actually help Erika all that much. Erika thought they were a good couple, for obvious reasons, but that didn’t mean she was thinking that advice saying ‘get drunk’ was good advice. “I will bug you to do anything to keep you two together.”

“Thanks. I think.” 

“I should probably go. I have an early start tomorrow. I promised Forrest I'd do the open day.” Veronica sighed and necked her drink, then started walking away. Erika was trying to think of something witty to say, but she didn’t succeed all that much before Veronica was practically out the door.

“More fool you, my friend. Call me tomorrow.” She shouted, then turned back to the bar, focusing on her drink again.

She wasn’t surprised a few seconds later when Jon’s voice came from behind her. “Veronica going?”

“Yeah she's doing the open day tomorrow.” Erika was glad she no longer had to be involved in Starfleet open days. She had never been great at them, but she had tried. This moment of Jon being stood with her was going to give her ample chance to tease him. “Get you, Captain Archer. Arranging this fancy party for everyone. Did you just invite me so the comms officers would get me drunk.”

“It's more fun when we get home if we're both drunk.” Jon commented, and she should probably have worried that he might have a point.

“You have a point. Shouldn't you be showing off for the pilots and the engineers. All your deep space experience.” She was only being slightly sarcastic, she was certain many of them would love to hear the stories Jon had told her. She had certainly loved hearing his positive stories, it reminded her why they had all signed up to Starfleet.

“Rob is boring everyone to death with his story about the trade outpost on Deneva even though everyone has been there.” Oh yes, Erika had heard that story three or four times herself. That was no reason Jon should be leaving his friends to sit with her. “I thought I'd keep you company until your fellow linguists arrive.”

“The linguists by and large aren’t still in Starfleet.” Erika wasn’t sure what it was about the linguists of Starfleet, the retention rate was atrocious. Probably because they could make more money as civilian translators. One of her old friends was still in the service, and on Earth. She had also asked her opinion on her future crew. “Jane is coming, and we haven't seen each other in a while. She's bringing a list of officer candidates you see, she actually reads them when I give them to her.”

Jon definitely didn’t miss that she was trying to tease him, and wrapped his arm around her back as he moved slightly closer. “Hey I read it, eventually.”

“Erika!” Was shouted from toward the door, and they both looked over their shoulders.

“Go back to your friends, Jonathan. See, Jane's here now.” She motioned in the direction of her friend. Probably one that Jon had a similar relationship to as Erika did to Trip. She knew him enough to wave at him in the hallway and say hey from time to time. 

The suspicion was confirmed when Jon just nodded to Jane as she sidled up beside them. “Hey Jane.”

“Hey Jon.” Jane replied, leaving Erika a few seconds to finish the conversation she and Jon had been having, or at least Erika was sure that’s what Jane was thinking. 

Jon leaned in and whispered in her ear, and the content of what he was implying meant she was happy that he had had the tact to keep it almost silent. “I'll see you after, please be drunk.”

“I'll think about it.” She answered, laughing after him. She wished she had something to throw at him.

Jane just smiled after Jon as he left, then looked back to Erika seriously. “It's nice to see you two back together. Are you back together?” That question was not completely expected, and Erika wasn’t exactly sure how to answer. She thought for a few minutes then shrugged slightly.

“That's a good question I haven't quite answered yet.” Despite them practically living together the last couple of weeks, Erika still wasn't quite ready to say they were back together. Not until they'd said that they were back together, officially, to each other. “I'll let you know. Hey Ruby. One more for the lady, oh and one for Jane too. What've you got for me.” Erika thought that focusing a little on work while she was drinking was the better idea. Especially as the raucous laughter from the table in the corner continued getting louder and louder. She was glad her friends and their friends were having fun, and she got to have a civil and grown up conversation. It was a good night, but she was definitely going to be drunk.


	11. Chapter 11

** Sunday, Week 3 **

Jon had been laid comfortably listening to Erika’s breathing while she slept. It was one of his favourite things since they were spending so much time together here. It reminded him that he wasn’t alone anymore. Erika was there with him, and he could depend on her when he needed her. So he’d laid there, quietly, listening to her breathing. That was until she rolled over and fixed him with a glare. “I’m going to kill you.” Were the first words out of her mouth, and suddenly he realised how much they must have drunk the night before.

But, even though he knew she’d been drunk, he felt the need to ask her why. Maybe he was being a little ridiculous, and definitely self-destructive. “Why?”

The glare just grew, and all Jon could do was try not to burst out laughing. “I have the worst hangover I’ve had in years. Since the last time you arranged a ‘party’ actually as I recall.” Erika’s accusation reminded him of everything else they’d done for years on the NX Programme. He would try and organise parties and gatherings which would almost always end up on the floor of Erika’s apartment. Him, AG and Erika would be sleeping in various positions all over. It was a long time ago.

But, Erika’s choice of drink was her own fault, and he wasn’t going to be blamed for that. “Hey, you drank.”

“You kept asking me to be drunk.” OK. She had a point. He had asked her to be drunk several times over the course of the night, and he’d been richly rewarded when they got home. 

But that still really wasn’t his fault. Erika had  still chosen to drink herself. “I’m not seeing the connection.” He teased, and finally he broke and grinned. He couldn’t keep it up for too long. She bopped him on the nose with the palm of her hand, her recent favourite way of ‘punishing’ him when he was teasing her.

“Hey, are you still coming up to  _ Columbia _ tomorrow?” That question took him by surprise. He hadn’t forgotten their plans for a second tour of  Columbia . He’d missed a lot on that ship already even though they’d tried a tour. He had been distracted and angry, and she hadn’t been able to distract him. So a second tour of the ship was good.

“Yeah, I’m going to check in on  _ Enterprise _ then come look around your ship again.”  _ Enterprise _ was in good hands, he knew that, but he still wanted to check in on his ship. Especially seeing how excited Erika was about her ship. He was sure there were going to be more things he hadn’t seen.  “I want to see what else you’ve upgraded.”

Erika rolled more onto her side and rested her hand on his stomach before looking up at him and grinning. “Weapons, engine, Captain.” Her look said it all, and he really should have expected her teasing after she started being affectionate. “They definitely upgraded Captains.”

“Hey, that was uncalled for.” He pouted in response, knowing that if he didn’t reply at least once that she had won she would just make it worse. He apparently made the right choice as Erika stretched out beside him then started rubbing her hand in circles on his stomach again. 

He started getting sleepy the longer Erika rubbed the circles. It had always been an easy way to calm and comfort him. He was almost asleep when she next spoke. “My brother heard you were in town, he’s up here on business on Thursday, wondered if you were free for dinner?” 

That got his attention, and he sat up a little. Simon Hernandez had never asked after Jonathan for dinner in the 11 years he’d known him. While the two men had spent time together from time to time, they’d both been well aware that Simon hadn’t particularly approved of Jon as a partner for his little sister. It made Simon asking if he’d join them for dinner even more surprising. “Your brother never before wondered if I was free for dinner.”

“I guess his stance on you has lightened up on account of you being a galactic hero. You’re obviously good enough for his baby sister now.” Erika grinned and stretched out. He had to shake himself to remember what they had been talking again. She was good.

Suddenly there was a moment he realised this was yet another reason why being an only child was better. Erika and Simon often had some hilarious sibling rivalry moments, but Jon had no intention of going along with them or getting involved in them any further than he already had been. “And this is why I’m glad I’m an only child.”

“Hey, I love having a brother.” She defended, and he wondered if she would say that the day after seeing her brother.

“Does he love having a sister though? That is the question. Especially a sister like you.” He wasn’t quick enough to move and caught Erika’s elbow in his ribs. He should have expected it, given that he was teasing her. “Ouch!” He exclaimed as she slipped out of the bed and grabbed one of his shirts 

“That was mean, Jonathan.” Erika glared at him, clearly not caring that she might have hurt him, or noticing that he was mostly putting it on.

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.” He tried to beg, hoping that she might just come back, mostly because he really didn’t want to get out of bed too. “Erika. Come back to bed.” 

She just turned away and laughed. “Not a chance, meanie. I’m going making a pot of coffee.”

“Erika. Come on.”

“Come get me, you shitty shit.”

“Do not challenge me. I’ll do it.” He smiled and made a move to get out of bed.

But it clearly backfired, given the challenging look in her eyes and the grin on her face. He was going to have to think of another way to challenge her when he didn’t want to do a thing. “Look, Jonathan. If you’re going to tease your hungover girlfriend you’re going to end up getting in trouble.” 

“Girlfriend?” He shouted as she left to the kitchen, at least he could tell from the way she spoke that she’d be back with him in a second. “ _ Girl _ friend??” He emphasised the first syllable, almost certain he’d pay for that when she came back into the room. 

Sure enough a second later she came back through the door carrying two mugs and an annoyed face. “It’s the only word that fits right now don’t even mention my age.”

“Well, you know, you are nearly 40.” She wasn’t really. She was almost thirty-nine, and she wasn’t going to appreciate him aging her. He didn’t really care all that much right now. He was having far too much fun teasing her today.

“I’m going to kill you, Jonathan.” She sat back on the edge of the bed and he rested his forehead against her back. He was just happy enough that she’d sat back with him without requiring him to get up. “Trip seemed to enjoy himself last night?”

“Yeah. I think everyone did.” He was glad that Erika had noticed Trip had enjoyed himself. He’d wondered if it was obvious that anyone had had fun last night. Quite a few of them had said they’d had fun at the party, he’d had more fun when he and Erika had got back to her place. “I know I did. Especially when we got back here.”

“Good, I’m glad that that was enjoyable.” Her grin took him back to the night before. At least he remembered it, and she did too. They couldn’t always say that. “You should arrange parties more often, just don’t expect me to drink quite so much at all of them. I am not 24 any more.”

“You might not hold your liquor as much as you did at 24, but I love you more now.” Well, that was true. They’d all drunk too much in their younger years, but drinking less now made their times together. Maybe agreeing with her would convince her to come back to bed. “So now will you come back to bed it must be freezing.”

“A little.” She admitted, but she didn’t move from sitting beside him. It wasn’t that surprising really, she wouldn’t move until she had to. “You know, if you go back on duty this week we need to decide what we’re doing and what we are to each other.”

“You’re the one dragging your feet on that, Rike.” He commented, and that was maybe not the best way to say it. She was the one waiting to say for sure what they were, but he knew what he wanted. “I’m happy with whatever you want me to be to you. The last few weeks have shown me that I still need you, and I think you still need me.”

She sighed and looked away, and he could understand why. Maybe he was coming on a little hard right now. “Jon, I’m nearly there, OK. I nearly know for sure what I want and what I’m willing to risk. So lets just stay here right now, and as soon as I have a word for it I’ll tell you.” She leant forward and kissed him lightly. He knew that she was still trying to think of what she wanted and where they wanted to go. It was hard to wait, but he knew he needed to. “But you’re not going to be without me now. You’re stuck with me.” 

“Excellent. That’s just what I need.” Jon grinned and wrapped his arms back around Erika, pulling her back under the covers. He was having too much fun with this, and knowing that Erika was almost with him at a level where the two of them could be back together was making everything better for him. All he wanted right now was for that to be reality.


	12. Chapter 12

** Monday, week 3 **

It wasn’t that often that Erika completely regretted a decision she’d made, but she was right now she was in that position. She wasn’t sure if it was really Jon’s fault, or if she should be blaming everyone and anyone else for the fact that she was leaving the bridge with another embarrassing tale for her to learn to laugh at. She was far too clumsy to be on what was essentially a building site. It was all made worse by Jon reciting a story from the NX programme, one she’d actually forgotten about until it was mentioned again. It wasn’t the most complimentary of stories, either. “I can’t believe you said that.” She hissed as she walked into the turbolift and hoped that she wouldn’t kill him. Today.

“It was a fun story!” Jon started, maybe it was a fun story for him, a fun memory that he didn’t have to pretend to have laughed at. She’d actually forgotten the incident until Jon had started telling the story, then she had remembered every excrutiating detail. 

Her problem wasn’t even necessarily that he’d recited the story, because he had every right to tell any embarrassing story he could think of, and in most situations she’d probably laugh at them too. Today wasn’t one of them, and all because of the situation she had found herself in.“Maybe for you, for me it was just embarrassing, and they aren’t our friends, they’re engineers!” She almost shouted that as she stepped out of the lift onto D deck, where the tether to the spacedock still connected. 

Jon obviously started thinking about it seriously this time, and then reached out and tugged her arm until she came to a stop. She was ready to give him hell for assuming she’d be fine, but instead the contrition in his visage told her to hold her tongue.“I’m sorry. I was just reminded of it and I thought it would make you laugh.”

She stopped and thought about it again, and now they were alone it did seem a lot funnier, and he brought up a mostly good memory. “Well, there were worse people I could have landed on. AG was always able to catch me when I do stupid things like that.” She said, laughing loudly, remembering how AG had grumbled, then laughed at her for being light as a feather. “When I did.” She finished, a little sadder, remembering that AG would never see her do the clumsy things.

Jon threaded his fingers through hers and smiled, clearly recognising her momentary sadness and trying to think of a thing to say to remind her they were laughing. “It was a long fall, right from the top of the prototype.” He motioned a few metres above the top of their heads and made a falling motion, causing her to laugh again.

“It’s one of the things that still causes me to cringe when I think about it.” There were a lot of clumsy moments she’d had over the years that she cringed about when she thought about them now. It had been so many years and so many moments since most of them, not counting today’s stumbling block.

“I don’t see how it added to any embarrassment today, you fell out of your command chair.” Jon said that with complete seriousness. She hadn’t just fallen out of the seat, she’d fallen into a heap on the floor. 

She was not going to let him act like it was all her fault. The chair hadn’t been steady, and with the tilt and her feeling so tired she had slipped right out of it. “Because it was tilted! You should have sat in it, you would have fallen too.”

“They’ll probably end up replacing it anyway.” Jon shrugged, and she had to admit he was possibly right. She had heard rumours that the chair they had begun fitting for  _ Columbia _ wasn’t likely to be the one she launched with. Maybe that was why it had been tilted. Jon studied her a moment longer then gave her a cheeky grin. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed, it was cute.”

There was only one thing she could think of in response to that. “There are days when I really, really hate you Jonathan Archer.” 

Jon just burst out laughing and squeezed her hand again as they reached the airlock and made their way back across to the main part of the station. “I’m sure you’re not the only one who says that.”

Well, she would give him that. She actually knew plenty of people who said they hated him, and they said it at fairly regular intervals. There was one thing, she hoped, that kept her separate from most of them. “I’m probably the only one who’s had sex with you who says that.”

“I don’t know, Rebecca’s still alive.” He reminded her, and while she was sure Rebecca hated Jon, she was pretty sure Rebecca hated her more. In Rebecca’s mind it had been Erika’s tault she and Jon hadn’t worked out, and in retrospect she might have been right, she had slept with Jon while he’d been with Rebecca, but she didn’t feel all that guilty about that fact.

“Oh, yeah. I like to forget about her. You know, she still works at that restaurant. Veronica and I walked past it last time she was home.” They had been planning to meet Ruby, so they hadn’t stayed to chat, or make passive aggressive comments to each other as they had every time they’d spoken in the last 14 years. “She still clearly hates me, I don’t know why she gave Veronica the stink eye though.”

“Probably because Veronica was with you. We broke up before Veronica joined the team.” She was about to confirm that was why she’d been so confused by Rebecca’s attitude when Jon continued talking, and reminded her of another important matter. “Have you confirmed with her for your XO?”

“I asked her, she said yes.  _ Republic _ is due home tomorrow from Ron’s last run.” She missed her old ship some days, even if she loved her ship and the crew she was woefully late in starting. “I’ve recruited a few people from her. Well, two. Veronica and Chef.”

“Veronica will be a good XO, she’ll make a good CO one day too.” Jon’s confidence was definitely echoed by anyone who knew Veronica, she was going to be a great Captain one day, she just needed a little more training, and Erika was ready to help her with that.

“If I train her right she will.” She smiled then thought about the ship they had just left behind, the ship that had been entrusted into her hands. She was so confused and sad sometimes, because somewhere in her mind that ship had already had a captain, and that captain had been AG Robinson.  “It’s still weird sometimes, thinking that  _ Columbia _ ’s my ship. For so long she was AG’s ship.”

Jon just nodded, and it was clear he understood her feeling there. She was pretty sure that all of Starfleet had thought of  _ Columbia _ as being AG’s ship. “Maybe, but he’d be proud of you for taking it on for him. It’ll be good, you’ll see.”

His optimism was a change. A welcome one, but still a change. “Well, isn’t this a change from mister-cranky-purple-pants I had to deal with for the last few weeks.”

“Why bring the purple pants into this. I will never live that down.” Jon’s annoyance at her mentioning the tight lycra pants he’d worn for a production of Pirates of Penzance once was still her favourite thing, and he _was_ teasing her. So she just grinned at him until he continued talking.  “I’m feeling better, the best I have in a long time. Being home changes things, helps you see things more clearly.”

“Oh really?” She had to ask, given his penchant for dropping back into maudlin thoughts at the drop of the hat. Maybe it was being back in space that was giving him cause for cheer. 

Or maybe it was something far more mundane and boring. “Plus between you and my mother I’ve been argued with enough for a lifetime so optimism seems more sensible.”

She didn’t buy that for a second. Jon loved to be argued with, and he loved to start arguments, and basically arguing was his favourite hobby that wasn’t played in water. He would never be argued with enough. “You will never argue enough. You thrive on it. I know you Jonathan.”

“You’re right.” He conceeded then looked at her again and motioned back to the docking port they’d just left. “Are you staying here tonight, or are you coming back to San Francisco?”

“I might stay here tonight. Start breaking my quarters in.” They’d need breaking in too, and re-organising.

“Want to come on a tour of  _ Enterprise _ . I should really check in on the upgrades, and I don’t think you ever got a tour.” She didn’t think she had. Her first and only visit to  _ Enterprise _ had come on the day tragedy had struck for her and she’d been pretty ill at the time, so she hadn’t come again. 

It still felt a little bit like bad luck, too. Not to mention  _ Columbia _ was the same. “She’s virtually identical to  _ Columbia _ , Jonathan.”

“Come and see how much better you’re going to have it there. Please?” It was the begging. It did her in. She couldn’t say no.

“Fine, I’ll come and see your ship.” Erika was ready for a visit to Jon’s ship. He was right, she hadn’t seen  _ Enterprise _ since it had been completed, had actually only visited once, when she was little more than a spaceframe. She knew  _ Columbia _ like the back of her hand, so seeing the differences between  _ Columbia _ and  _ Enterprise _ was going to be exciting.


	13. Chapter 13

** Monday, week 3 **

He had enjoyed his tour of  _ Columbia _ greatly, which was almost definitely the best part of this, because he'd managed to convince Erika to tour  _ Enterprise _ . She had to have seen the ship before, he really didn't believe her when she said she hadn't. She'd been on the NX programme along with the rest of them. He knew that it had been the last year and the two of them had had a lot of issues privately, but he didn't think that would have interfered with her visiting the outcome of their decade of shared service. “So, this is what your ship looks like?” Erika's upward inflection made him stop and look at her, she looked serious.

He still couldn't wrap his head round it, why wouldn't she have visited before. “I swear you’ve seen  _ Enterprise _ before.”

“No, I haven’t, I told you. Not since it was nothing more than a spaceframe." That must have been 5 years earlier, considering _Enterprise_ had launched 3 years earlier, and the spaceframe visit had been long before he'd been promoted. Erika clearly realised he didn't remember, so prompted another memory. "You know, that day.”

“Oh, yeah." A day he wasn't sure they'd ever forget, and not for the reason of visiting  _ Enterprise _ . That was the day that had spelt the end for their first relationship, even if they hadn't officially ended things for a while. They day they'd lost the baby. But he was sure that she'd been at ceremonies following that. "I thought you were at the naming ceremony.”

“I was on  _ Republic _ but I sent you a letter.” That could have been what he was remembering. Though he'd held her letters for so long after they split up, he hadn't wanted to know if she was angry at him, or worse, that she was missing him. It was better to pretend they weren't speaking.

That did explain it, though, and he knew that  _ Republic _ hadn't made it back to Earth before  _ Enterprise _ had launched. The last time they'd been home and he'd spoken to Erika, the night before the Expanse, hadn't really been the appropriate time for him to take her for a tour either. “Right. Want to see engineering?”

“Really?” She asked, a tremor of uncertainty in her voice which worried him to the core. All of a sudden she was a junior commander, not a fellow Captain.

He was going to have to try and break that line of thinking out of her. It wouldn't end well for any of them. “Erika you’re not some commander without clearance. You’re the Captain of an almost identical ship.” He argued, and at first she nodded, then she stopped again and looked at him seriously.

“ _ Columbia _ doesn’t have her engine yet.” She said, and all Jon could think was that that was a stupid reason not to see the engine room of an almost identical ship that she'd been involved in the development of.

She clearly felt like she didn't belong, but he knew better. She belonged here and anywhere else she wanted to go. That was the deal. “You’re in the right place Erika, come on.”

He tugged her through the hatch and into the engine room, which was bustling with half a dozen engineers and the clear signs of repair work. He was glad to see that the reactor was pulsing with its usual steady thrum, a sound he couldn't sleep without when shipboard now. Erika was clearly completely engrossed in looking around, and her hand had at some point slipped into his. Not that he minded. “It looks a lot smaller in here with the engine, and the engineers.” She whispered almost reverentially.

“No engineers on  _ Columbia _ ?” He asked with a light tease, he had seen plenty of engineers, but he knew right now Engineering was not the place the engineers would be focusing on on  _ Columbia _ . She was still weeks away from getting her own reactor installed.

“None of my own.” Came her answer, still barely above a whisper, and he had to stop himself from laughing at her response. It was so traditionally Erika.

As for the engineers swarming all over this room, not one of them was on his staff, but he was glad to have them there nonetheless.  _ Enterprise _ needed some tender loving care after the last year. He felt a little guilty that he'd put his ship through so much trauma, but she was healing now under the care of these engineers. “None of these are my engineers either.”

“Yeah but they at least look like they are comfortable here." He couldn't disagree there. Every single one of the engineers who were shouting instructions to one another looked completely at ease and were ignoring the two Captains. He'd noticed on  _ Columbia _ that they had been a spectacle. Probably because with a ship that was still being built, there was less need for the brass to be there.

That was just the point, _Columbia_ was the new ship. “She’s a baby ship Erika, give her time. You’ll get it sorted.”

“ _ Enterprise _ is a lovely ship. I can’t believe how much better she looks now than when you got back. I’m glad to know she stood up to all the challenge.” Jon started leading Erika slowly back through the ship, not really thinking about where this slow walk might end. He wasn’t sure he wanted them to go anywhere at all yet.

As for  _ Enterprise _ standing up to the challenge, she’s needed to. He’d had far too many plans for when he got home for her to have failed him in the end. At least that was what he was going to try and tell himself now. “We needed to get home, make sure you guys were safe.”

“We are, were.” He wasn’t sure what Erika meant by her quick change of tense, or if she’d meant anything at all.

For the moment he just wanted to try and get exactly what she thought of his completed ship, especially now that her ship was on the way to being completed. He wouldn’t be entirely surprised if she pointed out that her ship was slightly more advanced. “So, what do you think of  _ Enterprise _ ?”

He was glad to see that Erika paused for a moment. Hopefully she was thinking about a polite way to phrase any criticisms she might have. Why was he so nervous about what she'd think? Maybe because he'd teased her about  _ Columbia _ ? He did not have the appropriate amount of self control to deal with that. Not today, at least. After a few more minutes she slipped her arm through his and smiled. “She’s beautiful, tried and trusted. I’d need more than half an hour to decide anything more than that.” That was nice, fussy maybe, but nice.

“That’s enough for me." It was only then he realised that she had stopped complaining about the 'embarrassing' story he'd told. He maintained the story had been more amusing and endearing than actually embarrassing, but given that he'd done it on her ship he could understand why she would have thought differently about it. "You’ve stopped giving me hell about the story on your bridge too?”

She elbowed him in the ribs and he let out a hiss of surprise. It definitely hadn't been an expected reaction from her. Probably much to his own folly. “I just decided that it might be best to ignore it, besides, I want to sleep soon, but I don’t really want to sleep without you." Erika's shy smile as she said that made him even happier to have her there with him. She looked so sweet, and somehow he found himself realising more how he had needed this all along. "I’ve gotten too used to having you next to me.”

“My place or yours?” He asked, both hoping and not hoping that she would pick  _ Enterprise _ . He would have loved to help her break in her bed on  _ Columbia _ , but at the same time the ship wasn't entirely habitable yet, and he liked knowing that he wouldn't wake up on the ceiling.

Erika seemed to be going through a similar mental process, which told him they were still more in sync than he would have liked to admit. “There isn’t much power on  _ Columbia _ yet. Plus I can get a feel for sleeping on my ship by sleeping here, surely?” She asked, and while the question seemed rhetorical he couldn't help but give her an answer in a similar sarcastic tone.

“As we mentioned, the ships are nearly identical.” He reasoned with a smirk.

Erika clearly agreed with him, and he couldn’t help but be amused that she slipped her arm around him before she spoke. At least they were outside his quarters. “Excellent, so I can get a trial run.”

“Come on in, we’ll make sure you’re nice and comfortable.” He grinned, and pulled her through the door. The upside of him technically still being on leave was that he could show her around and not have to worry about being woken up in the middle of the night. There was something special about that, and he was glad he had someone to share it with. Erika would know how this felt before long, when she was out there being woken up at all hours of the night. For now he was going to enjoy these nights as he had them.


	14. Chapter 14

** Wednesday, week 4 **

Erika had been looking forward to an evening spent with her two best friends for days. She had been spending a lot of time either working or with Jonathan over the last few weeks, so their weekly evening in had been disrupted. This was the first Tuesday night they'd all been free. Veronica had finally completed the command course she'd been required to take, and Jon had taken Trip Tucker to inspect  _ Enterprise _ and try to take his mind off whatever was bugging him. So while they were together they were in Ruby's apartment above the 602, and Ruby was already annoyed with them for waking the baby up. Twice. "You two really need to learn how to be quiet."

Well. Maybe Veronica did. She was the one who had shouted. "Two?"

Ruby turned with a nod and focused on Veronica. "OK. Veronica you really need to learn how to be quiet."

"That was mean." Veronica huffed and leant back in her chair as she did.

"I know, and I don't care." Erika gave Veronica a shit eating grin and then turned to Ruby with a more sincere smile. "How are you doing anyway?"

"I'm tired, being alone with a baby is difficult, but at least I have her with me." There was a lot of sadness in Ruby's answer, and really Erika should have known better. This time of year was of course going to be hard for her friend, even harder with the baby being alone this year.

Of course it was. But Andrea was one thing left that kept AG with them all. So no doubt the 7 month old was a comfort to her mother. "Yeah. I miss AG too."

"Me three." Veronica muttered and looked to the floor. "But hey tonight isn't meant to be a sad night. Tonight is supposed to be the night where we casually remind Erika that she has gotten back together with Jon."

"Whoa, whoa. What?" Ruby asked, clearly annoyed at being left out of this piece of the gossip. When  _ Enterprise _ had first returned Ruby had been the one really pushing Erika to go after Jon, she couldn't be that surprised, surely?

"He's practically living at her place right now." Veronica chimed in, looking at Ruby and nodding. Erika tried to break that up.

"He is not. He's just there a lot." She defended. OK maybe he was basically living at her apartment while Jon's cousin took over his apartment. It didn't matter that was the cause, she still would say Jon wasn't almost living with her. He just slept over a lot.

"You two are sleeping together though, right?"

There was something that bothered Erika very much about that question. "What does it matter if we are?"

"You're Starfleet Captains, Erika. You really think it wouldn't matter?" Veronica pointed out for the ninth or tenth time. It wouldn't matter though, surely?

"I would think it would be none of Starfleet's business." That may have been a little harsh, but it was definitely the truth. What she and Jon did behind closed doors shouldn't matter to anyone at all. "Jon and I have a complicated history and I guess present and it shouldn't matter to Starfleet what we do. Besides, he's on leave."

"Wasn't his leave over on Monday?" Veronica asked, her face contorted into a hilarious expression as she clearly tried to add when Jon's leave had started.

She shook her head, knowing that while he was technically no longer on leave, they were both still mostly on Earth, and neither counted it as being over until he was back on  _ Enterprise _ full time. "Technically. But  _ Enterprise _ still isn't going to be leaving for a few weeks, and  _ Columbia _ is still months from launch. Especially with the engine problem."

Ruby sat forward with interest. Erika had to remind herself that Ruby wasn't a member of Starfleet, yet for some reason they all forgot that. Ruby probably knew more Starfleet Secrets than half the Admiralty combined. "Engine problem?"

"Remember that night AG and Jon kicked the shit out of each other in the bar?" She couldn't think of another way to pinpoint the time they were talking about.

"While you were in New Mexico?" Ruby asked, and Erika only needed to nod. They probably should have been more concerned that they had had to double check which time the team had been fighting. Had they really done it that much back then?

"Yeah that time. The same engine instability is showing in the reactor we've built for _Columbia_ , so it could already be delaying our launch. Hopefully not though." The engine trouble was by far the most annoying thing that she had had to deal with recently, especially since nobody seemed to be able to lock it down. She was certain they'd have it all fixed by the time they were due to launch. They still had 3 months.

"That was a bad time for everyone here, especially since I dealt with your team basically every night." There was a momentary look of concern that passed over Ruby's face, then she asked in an almost fearful tone. " _ Columbia _ 's gonna fly though, right?"

"Don't worry Ruby, we're not going to let AG's ship fail." She reassured their friend. Ruby had been to tour  _ Columbia _ a few weeks earlier, and Erika had shown her the crew lounge she'd had set up that had a photo of AG hanging in his honour.

Veronica nodded, and Erika was grateful for the agreement from her best friend. They were going to make sure _Columbia_ was the best ship in the fleet, if only to honour AG's memory. "Plus Jon is probably going to need us to bail his butt out of jail on about half the planets we're involved with."

"It's only the Klingons who have a warrant out on him. So far as we know." She was sure it wouldn't be the only warrant served on a Starfleet officer, but it was certainly the only one she was bothered with. She didn't fancy visiting Jon on that frozen mining planet he'd told her about escaping from. Cold weather and visiting a prisoner would probably push her over the edge of her comfort level.

Veronica continued with her drink then let out a bark of laughter and looked back at Erika with a smirk. "You're involved with a felon."

"You've just given me a reason to marry him. My mother would not approve. Jon is happy. I'm happy. Isn't that what matters?" She looked at Veronica seriously, wishing that from time to time she would back off and let her work things out for herself. She had a lot to work out too, and Veronica's commentary on Jon's record was not as helpful as she maybe thought. "Besides, I'm pretty sure it's just a fling while we're on Earth, who has time for relationships?"

"I don't know. You and Jon suit each other in a way very few people ever will." Ruby mulled their status over in her mind, and Erika just smiled, glad to know her friend was thinking on their behalf. Ruby knew more about their relationship than almost anyone, so if she had advice Erika was going to listen, that was a foregone conclusion. "I think you should work your shit out and keep going. I can tell you want to."

"I do, but I'm also terrified. Not of being with him, but of being without him." Well, that was not what she'd expected to admit to. It wasn't exactly the most modern nor independent thought she'd ever expressed. "How pathetic is that?"

"Not at all pathetic. You love him." Ruby put the point in the minimalistic simple way she was loved for down in the bar. She just understood what Erika was trying to say and made it easy for her to admit to it, by actually just confirming the inference Ruby had drawn.

So she nodded, she did love Jon. She always had. "Yeah. I guess I do."

Veronica downed her drink and slapped her thighs before sitting forward with a sigh. "This was a bad topic to bring up considering I am forever alone." OK, so Veronica was permanently single. Maybe they were being a touch insensitive. Just a touch. "Can we go back to talking about how stupid Jon can be?"

"Sure." Erika laughed and shared a knowing look with Ruby. The two women both understood Veronica's position on love and relationships, but that didn't mean they didn't enjoy talking about things in her vicinity. A lot of the time it would make them both think of something that nobody but Veronica would ever think, and that helped. Really, Erika had to admit, Veronica's position made sense. If she never put herself out there she would never be hurt. That was the long and short of it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Thursday, week 4**

Before any night out, or any meeting, that both he and Erika had attended she had always worried about his state of dress. Tonight they were going to a relatively upmarket restaurant a few hundred metres from Erika's apartment, and they were in full evening wear. Erika's Starfleet blue dress with a teal sash was not helping him concentrate on doing his tie properly, and he was getting more and more annoyed at Erika's fussing. "He's not going to care what I'm wearing, Rike."

She settled him with a glare, and he had to admit that he probably deserved it. "Yes he is, we're talking about my brother here Jonathan." OK, he definitely deserved it. Simon Hernandez was the opposite of his sister in so many ways, the most prominent of which being that he actually did care about appearances.

"I kind of hoped fatherhood would chill him out. How old is Carla now?" he should have known the answer to that, even with the amount of time since he'd last seen her. The Christmas after he and Erika had ended things, but they'd still been close enough that he'd accompanied her back to New Mexico.

Why was he blanking on Carla's age. Erika was just stood watching him work it out, but obviously eventually she took pity on him. Which was good news, he needed it. "7, and there is another baby too, Amelia. She's  3."

There was another Hernandez baby? He seemed to remember Veronica messaging him about that not long after the end of the NX-Programme, but nothing had been mentioned since. "How did I miss that?"

"You were 100 light years away and we weren't talking." That still wasn't too much of an answer, they had enough common friends. Then again, most of their common friends would not have known what was going on with Erika's family. He went to start trying to fix his tie again, but Erika just gently swatted at his hand.  "Now are you going to let me fix your tie?"

"What else have you neglected to tell me about your family?" He asked in a teasing tone. While he was certain it wasn't malicious, he did want to know how her family were doing.

She shrugged then reached up and started adjusting the tie. Her eyes not really focusing on what she was doing. Muscle memory, how did the woman have muscle memory for tying a tie? That was something he was going to have to ask her at a later date. "I haven't neglected to tell you, it just hasn't come up. Simon and Maria have the two girls and my mother has a touch of Alzheimer's."

"You can have a touch of Alzheimer's?" He needed to ask for the clarification. He had always liked Lita Hernandez, even if she and Erika hadn't always seen eye to eye. It had been quite obvious that they had been too similar, and neither of them wanted to admit that.

"Shush, I'm living in denial." Well, that he couldn't blame her for, he was often in denial about his own mother's health, both their mothers' were beginning to suffer from the ailment known as old age. "Best behaviour tonight Jonathan. I want you two to get on this time." This time. They hadn't fought too much last time.

"Why?" OK, maybe he was fishing a little. Annoying Erika this early would only mean that she couldn’t be too annoyed at him later on.

She had clearly cottoned on to this trick, because she just stared at him before answering. "Because he's running for city council back home and you're a respected Starfleet Captain and the tabloids would have a field day if the two of you were seen brawling."

"Fine.” He huffed, already sure this wasn’t going to go exactly as Erika had planned. “I will if he will."

"I've already threatened him too."

As the chime downstairs rang Jon just kept Erika’s glare and smiled sarcastically. "That's the door." She then pointed in the direction of the recently repaired buzzer. He could tell he was beginning to push his luck.

"If he doesn't kill you I might, you're being extra-strength sarcastic today." She shot over her shoulder as she just hit the buzzer, she then waited and continued glaring at Jon until Simon actually walked through the door to her apartment. "Hey big brother."

"Hey kiddo.” Simon wrapped his younger sister into a hug and smiled, then his eyes landed on Jon and he knew that his problems were only just beginning. “Jonathan."

"Simon. How's the family?" He nodded, dropping the question more as a courtesy than actually wanting an answer.

"None of yours." Simon snapped, and Jon was surprised for just a moment, then remembered how annoyed Simon had always been at people asking after his family with no prior warning or reason.

"Hey. Remember what I said.” Erika glared between the two of them then smiled the smile of an evil mastermind. “I have naked pictures of both of you and I'm not afraid of bribing you."

"Rike you're evil. Truly evil." He teased, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Simon laughed, this time genuinely, and seeming to open more up to Jon. Maybe he was mellowing. "She's always been like this." He pretended to confide, and Erika just looked offended.

"You tried to sell me!" She exclaimed loudly, and the two men just burst out laughing. There was far too much that Simon and Erika had done when young for him to ever know it all.

Simon, it seemed, was not dissuaded by Erika’s annoyance. "Tried is the operative word. I've got the car." He motioned over his shoulder, but after a very short and silent debate Erika nodded, agreeing that they didn’t need to drive it. He hoped at least.

Sure enough a second later she confirmed he’d won. "Leave it here, the restaurant is only a five minute walk away. Now be serious. How are Maria and the girls?" Erika’s question was greeted with far less hostility, and Jon was happy to listen. At least in part.

"Great. Really great. Carla keeps asking when she can come visit." Simon laughed, and Erika seemed to slow down in thought, Jon having to pull her along gently to keep her moving.

"You should bring her along next time.” Jon recognised the look growing on Erika’s face, she had a plan. What plan, he didn’t know. But she had a plan. “She'll love it here I'm absolutely sure, and Jon could probably take her on a tour around Enterprise."

"Oh yeah, she's been so proud of that. She took that photo album of her first year you made her in for show and tell and kept pointing out that Captain Archer was her godfather. She's been the Royalty of Recess ever since." Simon laughed, prompting both Erika and Jon to laugh. It was still strange for him to think that he was a rolemodel for these kids, but he was.

"I still have a few days leave, I could come down and visit her school. I'm sure I could convince a few members of my senior staff to come along too."

"Really, you'd do that?" Simon asked, clearly shocked. Then again, even Erika was looking at him as if he’d grown another head.

He hadn’t grown another head, that wouldn’t have been very attractive. He was instead defending why he’d do something for people he considered his family. "Yeah. I know you and I have never really seen eye to eye, Si, but I love your sister, and I have always considered your family an extension of my family."

"He's using big words now, Rike. You sure?" Simon asked his usual question, but this time with a genuine air of teasing her, rather than his usual dismissal of Jon. Maybe he had made headway.

Erika was thinking too, and maybe that was the end of it. They could both go. "I'll see if I can take a few days and come down too. It would be nice to see mom again."

"She's bad right now Erika, she still thinks dad's alive."

"So she still think I'm not talking to her. Fabulous." Jon remembered how much Erika had hated that time, they just hadn’t seen eye to eye and Erika had taken that personally, not speaking to her mother for half a decade.

Simon at least understood how worrying that was for Erika to hear, and squeezed her shoulder."She'll come round again in time, she will. Focus on that. If you come down see her in the morning, that's when she's in the moment."

"OK. We'll both go to Forrest in the morning. Maybe he'll give us a day or two next week." Dinner had then passed rather uneventfully. He had mostly listened to Erika and Simon reminisce about their childhood and tell him wildly inappropriate stories. It didn't even matter that he had heard most of them before, he loved seeing Erika so happy and animated. They had walked home in practical silence, none of them having much to say, and Jon having entered into a begrudgine possibly permanent truce with Simon didn't even have anything sarcastic to add.

After they said goodbye to Simon, Erika had followed him back up to her apartment and smirked. He knew already what she was going to comment on first. Of course she was. "You did something nice for my brother."

"I wasn't doing it for him. Carla was the first baby I ever held, remember." He had been so terrified when Maria had laid the bundle in his arms, and he'd been so grateful Erika had been beside him that day. He had looked at this baby and realised he was making an agreement to be in her life forever. He'd been a pretty poor godfather up until this point. "And as Si pointed out I am her godfather." He couldn't pass up that vow, even if he wasn't religious and never had been. He knew how important godparents could be after seeing Erika interacting with hers. He wanted to do right by Carla.

Erika smiled and leant her arms on his shoulders before stepping onto her tiptoes to kiss him lightly then pulled back a little to look at him again. "You're a good man, Jonathan Archer."

"I try." He smiled and wrapped his arms around Erika, pulling her flush to his front. When had this sort of domestic scene become commonplace for them again. He didn't know for certain, all he knew was that he had the perfect partner, and one day they'd make it official. Right now they still had stuff to work out.


	16. Chapter 16

** Friday, week 4 **

They had been in her office for half an hour, and right now she would be oh so very happy to have convinced Jon to stay at home this morning. They had celebrated the successful dinner with her brother, slept and come straight here. It was her first day of interviews for open crew positions on  _ Columbia _ , and she had wanted to review the personnel files again. Jon however was being as annoying as a toddler, he was interested in absolutely everything in her office, including her schedule for the day. "So you have how many interviews today?"

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes before sitting back again. "8, two of them with your juniors, including the first one." She wasn't sorry that some of the junior officers from  _ Enterprise _ were considering taking her up on her offer. They wouldn't get promotions on  _ Enterprise _ , and  _ Columbia _ they probably would.

"Oh, who?" Jon asked, not sounding particularly worried either, barely even sounding that interested, he was too busy looking at the very ugly paintings that had been on the walls when she had first taken residency in these offices 5 months earlier.

As for which of his officers she was interviewing, she'd need to double check their names. Over the next few weeks she was going to be interviewing 25 junior officers from  _ Enterprise _ . These were just the first two she actually wanted. "Stewart Rivers and Reiko Akagi?"

Jon nodded, then finally propped himself on the edge of her desk again. "Both good hires. I don't know what we'd do without Rivers. He was involved in something a few months ago though and I think him getting away from Malcolm Reed might be for the best." That sounded like a good story, but she wasn't going to ask right now. What could he have possibly done while they were in the Expanse that could require him to be moved off of the ship.

"I'll move him top of my list." She had already decided he was near the front, but this was a reason to upgrade him. "Akagi is already up there, I served with her sister on the  _ Republic _ ."

"Well, for what it's worth I'd be happy to sign either of them over to you." Jon's grin told her that he was already signing them over in his mind. Well. At least she'd be up from one to three in her list. It was good. "Knowing they're with a CO who'll make sure they eat and get plenty of walks." She burst out laughing at that, why was it even funny? The mental image of her taking crew out on leashes.

"They are highly trained officers, Jonathan, not Beagles." She still laughed, she couldn't help it. Even while scolding him she had to laugh.

He ended up pouting a little, and she already knew what was coming. A reference to an old joke and even older humour about commanding a ship full of dogs. "It would be fun if they were beagles."

"You need your head examining my love." She laughed again at the memory of the joke then looked at the chronometre on her desk. She really should be trying harder to kick him out of her office. She was fairly sure her oh-nine-hundred meeting would be waiting outside the door, and surely seeing his current CO exiting his prospective COs office was not going to be a big confidence boost. "Don't you have your own ship to be thinking about?"

Jon started kicking his legs like a toddler, and Erika was suddenly a little suspicious about his reason for being in here. "I have a meeting with Forrest in half an hour. I was just going to annoy you until then."

At that she just stood up and pulled him off her desk, determined he leave now and let her get on with her job. She was fairly sure it would only work if she gave him someone else to annoy. "Well, my first appointment will already be waiting, Veronica should be free down the hall. Don't you still owe her something?"

"Ooh, thanks for reminding me." He grinned again, and jumped a little with a grin. "My place or yours tonight?"

"Yours, Mr Bartlet is back and his snoring is unbearable. The man is not the vision of health." She shook her head. There was no chance she'd sleep after a month of him being out of the building.

"See you later. Be good." He leant down and kissed her gently before opening the door, not even attempting to wipe the lipstick off before he did. He was in quite the mood this morning, and she honestly had no idea why. She was stood in the doorway as he walked away.

"Tell that to your officers. I mean it." She shouted after him, a comment she was absolutely certain that it was extremely confusing to everyone sat in the corridor outside her office. She looked around a little until she saw the one who was the most confused and worried looking of the bunch and assumed that was who her meeting was with. "Hi, Rivers, right? Come in."

"You were having a meeting with Captain Archer?" He asked with a slightly squeak in his voice. She nodded and motioned for Rivers to precede her into her office and smiled.

"Just getting his recommendations off him. Take a seat and tell me more about yourself?" She lead off with the first question she always gave a prospective officer and smiled, realising how long today was going to be and how exhausted she was likely to be at the end of it.

Sure enough 10 hours later she was ready for her bed, fed up of hearing about the achievements and failures of junior officers who hadn't been in Starfleet as long as she'd been in the command ranks. It was long and tiring and now she wasn't sure if she was grumpy or just utterly emotionally exhausted. Was it possible for her to be both?

She was considering calling Jon's, seeing if he had any preference on where they ate tonight, when she recognised a very familiar and quite welcome scent enter her office. She didn't open her eyes at all, but she did turn her chair more in his direction. "You done?" He asked quietly, and she nodded, giving herself another minute before sitting forward and opening her eyes.

"For today, I expected you to have left hours ago?" She sighed a little, hoping that he hadn't stayed here and waited for her.

He shook his head and grinned. "Veronica and I were watching the STC trainees doing their exterior training drills."

"With popcorn and soda, no doubt?" She knew the two of them far too well. Far, far too well. They'd been doing the same for years now. She'd been once, really didn't find it all that much fun. If the seniors had been allowed to watch her when she was a trainee she probably would not be a Captain today, she'd have quit and done what her mother told her to do.

"And a bingo card of mistakes they make. I forgot how much fun it was hanging out with Veronica."

"Don't let her know that. She'll start expecting me to join her for that."

Jon rolled his eyes and laughed. She had always been expected to join that game. She tried not to join, it annoyed her far too much. "Well, you could always join the games your best friend and your boyfriend make up."

"Boyfriend? We're going with that. It makes you sound about 18. I think I prefer unwed life partner." She grinned and sat back staring at him.

Jon looked at her for a moment and frowned. "That's maybe a little more long term than I was going for."

Well that was confusing. Wasn't Jon the one who wanted them to be open, who wanted them to be together. She was talking to the same man who had told her he didn't think he could live without her. Right? How could he blow so hot and cold? "You're trying to convince me why we should be  _ looking _ at something long-term then come out with that."

"You know what I mean Erika." He tried to reason, but her back had already been raised. She had ramped up to a full rant, and she didn't think he could head her off now.  "You're the one who keeps saying you're not there yet."

Well. At least he'd gotten the message that she wasn't there yet. That she wasn't at that point in their renewed relationship. It had taken long enough. "I'm not. You want me to tell you something I'm not ready to say yet. No, you haven't pushed me or tried to convince me, but you're still just waiting for me to say it. We don't address it but what happened four years ago hurt me, Jon. It did, I can't deny it. My feelings for you didn't change then and they haven't changed now but I'm still not ready to say it." She loved him, she always had, and she had wanted to tell him hundreds of times since they had reunited almost 5 weeks earlier. Something in her psyche was stopping her, probably her sense of self preservation. She had fallen hard for Jon again, and she did still need some protection, if only from herself. "The truth is I do want us to be life partners, I do want to be with you for the rest of my life if it is at all possible, that hasn't changed in almost 14 years, but I am not ready."

"I understand that. But that is why I think maybe your term was more long-term than we're looking at. Because I can't think of myself that way, or of you that way, until I know for sure." He sat back, and she felt a little more than physical distance growing between them. "I love you Erika, I've loved you for almost 14 years and I know you're not ready to say it back, but I don't want to use a serious label until I know." His explanation was infuriating, and she wasn't sure why. It seemed like what he was saying was great. He loved her and she was never going to have to worry about being alone again, but at the same time he needed to hear her say she loved him too before he would use a label that had fitted them as long as they'd known each other. Was she being unreasonable, probably, but she was still angry.

"You know what, I think I'll deal with Mr. Bartlet's snoring, I don't want to speak to you tonight." She stood straight up from her chair and looked around her office for what was needed.

Jon stepped back as she stalked around the room, grabbing the various things she was going to need to continue her work when she got home. It was obvious Jon was trying to stay out of her way, but it didn't help her stop being annoyed at him. "Dammit Erika, that's not what I meant."

"No, if you're seriously that wrapped up in labels I'm not interested. Call me when you've pulled your head out of your ass." She gathered the last of her PADDs up and walked straight past him. She was furious, and the worst part was that she wasn't sure if she was furious at him or if she was furious at herself. He was being an asshole, and she felt like sometimes her indecision was making him indecisive, but she also knew that  _ was _ her fault. Maybe a night apart would be good for them both.


	17. Chapter 17

** Friday, week 4 **

There was still a lot of confusion in his mind about what had happened in Erika’s office a few hours earlier, but after half an hour in his apartment he had known he didn’t want to leave her angry at him for long. So he’d stocked up on some essentials of apologising and set off across town to her apartment. It was a familiar trek to her place, and he was glad to see that the light in her living room was on. He hit the buzzer for her place and wondered if she would even come down to him, or if she’d realise it was him and pretend she hadn’t heard anything. He really hoped it wouldn’t be the latter, he hadn’t brought flowers for nothing. 

He only had to wait a few minutes, then the familiar skipping gait of Erika coming down stairs was visible through the glass. He really needed to remind her to get the buzzer fixed. She opened the door to the building and stepped back, letting him pass her as she did. Maybe he wasn’t being welcomed with open arms, but he hadn’t been locked out either. She continued staring at him, and he just stood a little awkwardly until she spoke. “What are you doing here Jonathan?” 

“I wanted to apologise for earlier.” He got it right out, rather than trying to make a joke, as he normally did. If she was pissed at him, winding her up was not the way to go. A few years earlier he would have wound her up, then again, a few years earlier he wouldn’t have come. He’d have waited until Monday. Back then he didn’t have as much riding on them as he did now. 

Erika however seemed more confused than relieved at his apology. “What are you apologising for?” She asked, a frown crossing her face as she did. He suddenly became aware that he didn’t know what he was apologising for either, but he still was fairly sure it was something important. It had to be.

“In all honesty I’m not sure. But whatever it is I’m sorry.” He handed her the flowers he still held and kissed her cheek before looking up the stairs in the direction of her actual apartment. “Can I come up?”

“They’re beautiful, thank you Jonathan. Sure.” She nodded a second later and started up the stairs, sniffing the flowers he’d brought. He couldn’t resist stopping back a few steps and watching her, just for a second. Still unable to believe he was involved with her at all, she deserved better than him, always had. Almost the second he walked through her apartment door she turned to him with a serious attitude. “You shouldn’t be the one apologising, I should be.”

“You didn’t do anything?” That was definitely confusing. What had Erika done? For the last few weeks she’d been the only person who had made him feel normal. He was getting more used to how everyone else treated him, but Erika still just treated him as Jonathan, the man she’d known for almost a decade and a half. She had nothing to apologise for in his mind.

Erika, clearly, disagreed entirely. “I did. I went all psycho crazy on you when you didn’t deserve it. I’m the one who has been giving a billion mixed signals.” Well, he couldn’t disagree there. He knew she wanted them to be together, just as he did, but he also knew that she had been hurt far more than he had been. They both needed to be sure they were doing the right thing and risking their careers for a good reason. He had just decided a lot faster than Erika had. 

At least he had that to tell her, and to try and show that he didn’t blame her for taking her time. She was right, she really should be asking more questions. They needed that degree of level-headedness. “I’m not sure that’s necessarily a bad thing. You want to be sure we’re doing the right thing.” 

“I’m not sure that’s what it is.” She said, and dropped to the sofa, he walked over too, but didn’t sit down, feeling like Erika needed a little bit of space for the moment, at least until she got her problem out in the open. “I feel more like I want to simultaneously be with you and forget the last four years but in a horrible way I also want to punish you for the last four years so I’m being an asshole and you don’t deserve it.” The whole thing came out in one go, and didn’t give Jon time to stop it. 

“The last four years weren’t easy for me either, Rike.” He commented, and now he did sit down, putting a hand on her shoulder as he did. He had hated the last 4 years, but they were going to be easier now. “I had a pretty bad time.”

She nodded, and he felt a little bad for reminding her of all that she saved him from again. She had been there, she knew. But their break-up had all been on him, so it was only fair she be the one hurt by it. “I know. You’ve had a harder time of it than me, even. But I still wanted to punish you, but I don’t want to punish you, or me.”

“We’ll work it out. You know we will.” That was all he could think to say to that. They had always worked through their problems and differences in the past. It was great for them both, and this time they had an added reason for doing it. It would make them happy.

“Yeah.” She mumbled then sat back against the back of the sofa, clearly not really feeling all that bolstered by his attempt at a pep talk. 

There were other matters he could direct her attention to. An idea he’d been rolling around since they’d left her brother the night before. He had made the promise for Carla now, so he needed to plan it. Erika was almost certainly going to be better at that, she had planned all the events for the NX Programme. “I need your help too. I want to plan to do some things in New Mexico, take a few of my senior staff had been down there.”

“What are you planning?” She was guarded, but he could already tell she was going to help him. She was. That made him happy. He could tell by the fact she was still listening. Erika was the most media-savvy Starfleet Captain, and he knew that including his senior staff meant he was planning something huge. 

He did have a pretty big idea, but he wasn’t sure it was entirely feasible. At least not in the time they had.  _ Enterprise _ was going to be ready in less than 3 weeks. They’d have to do it before the ship was ready to launch. “Well, if you bring Veronica down lets do a town hall meeting, maybe a talk at your old high school. What do you think?” 

He held his breath while she thought, and he was worried he might asphyxiate if he continued, or if Erika took a while to make a decision. Thankfully, it didn’t take long at all, and the whole time she spoke she had a thoughtful smile on her face. “I’m sure it could be done. I can call the principle on Monday and float his opinion. Maybe try and make it state-wide, include the media too.” That wasn’t exactly what he’d thought, but if she could organise that he would go for it.

“Are you sure you can organise it?” He had to be sure, and for that she had to be sure. He knew Erika though, and she wouldn’t suggest something she couldn’t organise. That would be against her own work ethic. 

She stopped and thought, then leant against him, letting him wrap his arm around her for the first time since they’d come up. That was the first physical sign that all was well with them. The fact she was thinking of ways to do this cheered him up even further. “It’ll take me all of a few days. Set it for the end of next week. You’ll need to visit Carla’s school too.” She said finally, a few minutes later. He’d do Carla’s school alone. It would be healthier for his staff. 

“Erika Amaralis Hernandez you are a genius.” He had said that statement probably a hundred times or more over the years, but that didn’t make it any less true, and it didn’t stop him giving her that praise when it was presented to him.

He could sense Erika’s smirk without looking at her when she started speaking. “Well, Jonathan Beckett Archer, thank you. But I thought we agreed we were not going to use each others’ middle names anymore.”

“But you have such a pretty name, Rike.” He exaggerated his politeness, and it got the desired outcome, a hearty laugh and a gentle slap on his knee.

“Keep grovelling, lover boy. I might forgive you.”

He pulled out a large tub of Erika’s favourite ice-cream. His secret weapon in case his turning up on her doorstep and apologising hadn’t worked. It was always a good idea to keep the ice cream on hand. “I have banana ice-cream. Am I forgiven now?” He asked again, a smirk on his face as Erika sat up a little and looked between him and the ice-cream.

“For everything you’ve ever done.” She grinned and cuddled closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her while opening the tub and pulling two spoons out of his pocket where he’d hidden them earlier. He handed her the spoon and started listening to her reel off a list of things she could help to organise if they were going to try and put on a press event in her home town. It seemed the least he could do, and he could keep his word to Simon at the same time. Also being forgiven definitely made him feel more charitable.


	18. Chapter 18

** Monday, week 4 **

For the entire weekend she’d been planning in detail exactly what she and the others could be doing. It would depend on several people saying yes, but she was sure they would. This was a huge thing for all of them, because it would let them put something good for Starfleet in front of the media. That was desperately needed, they all had to agree with that. She was starting with that now.

Right this moment she was looking at the emblem for her alma mater. It was still strange to know that her high school was named after the man who was spending most nights in her bed. When she’d first told him Jon had been annoyed, now he found it absolutely hilarious and loved to tease her with that, especially when they were both trying to annoy each other. She was still thinking about that when a face came on the other end of her screen. “Erika, it’s been a long time!” Principal Toby Lyman, who had only been a maths teacher when she’d been a student at the school. He’d known her since she was fourteen years old, and could probably remember every detention she’d ever had.

She had to admit, he was right. She hadn’t checked in with the school more often, but she’d been too busy with her career and her studies. Sitting here right now she felt like she was fourteen again, not a thirty-eight year old Starfleet Captain. “Hi sir, it has, but I have a proposition for you that I don’t think you would want to turn down.” She really needed to sell it as something he needed, maybe then it would be harder to say no.

He was clearly intrigued, but maybe a little suspicious. That wasn't all that surprising, considering it was coming from a former student. “What’s that?”

She thought for a second how best to word this request, then realised it was going to be a big ask no matter how she framed it. “As you may have seen in the news, I’m pretty close to Captain Archer of  _ Enterprise _ .” Her former teacher smiled coyly and nodded, wow, the rumour mill even made it all the way down here. Either that or Simon had started flat out telling people they were dating again. “He’s planning to bring some staff down to Tatum at the end of the week, and we were wondering if we could maybe host an assembly at your school.”

“We?” He asked, clearly not sure what she meant by ‘we’, and she replayed her last sentence over in her mind and saw why he thought that. She would make it clear who she thought could be there. She had plenty of time to confirm for certain who would and wouldn’t be there. Other than herself and Jonathan she’d refrain from naming names. 

“Myself, Captain Archer and his crew, possibly a member or two of my crew.” There, that was a good explanation, and accurate to what she knew. Veronica had expressed an interest in going when she’d explained why she wanted the call put through to her old high school then Erika had ordered her away.

Mr. Lyman looked at her seriously and this time broke into a large and proud smile. Apparently news of her possible relationship status had made it home, but not the news that she had been named Captain of  _ Columbia _ . At least to her old school. “You have a crew, Erika?”

“Yes sir, I do. I’m the Captain of the second NX class ship,  _ Columbia _ . The sister ship to  _ Enterprise _ .” She couldn’t help but smile herself now. There was something about being able to tell someone from home that she had her ship, and know neither her mother not her brother had told them first. 

“I have missed a lot of the news lately, well done, Captain Hernandez. Everyone here must be so proud.” She felt that her own ship might end up being marginally more famous in Tatum, New Mexico than  _ Enterprise _ , despite the high school being named for the former’s captain. Erika could definitely live with that. Maybe she’d get the elementary school. “When would you be hoping to do this?”

“Well, we’re all going to be in Tatum from Thursday night onwards, so Friday or Monday would be best. We’ll be streaming the assembly to many other schools, we hope.” She wanted to make this a press event, and something that would not only benefit her little school, but all the others in her local area. Starfleet’s press and media offices were helping her, but they had all agreed she was in charge. 

Mr. Lyman went back to studying her again, and once more she was transported back to high school. There was something about that stare that teachers had that would keep even the rowdiest child in their place. “Why are you doing it at my school?” It was a good and perfectly valid question that she didn’t have a pre-scripted answer for.

“Because it’s my school too.” That was the main reason why they were going to do it there. The other being that Jon owed her favours and the final one being that she still had school pride and hated the majority of high schools in that part of New Mexico. “Captain Archer owes me a few favours, and so your school was the first and really the only choice.”

Finally, the smile turned agreeable, and Erika knew beyond all manner of doubt that he was going to agree. That was the win. Jon had better convince his crew now. They were the crew that had saved Earth, people would want to hear about that. “You’ll be in contact to organise it?”

This one, she had already talked her brother into. She was letting his company sponsor the event if he helped her organise it. Nobody could say that she wasn’t a helpful baby sister from time to time. “Simon will be doing a lot on the ground, but if you agree to a Friday afternoon address I’ll be there on Wednesday night and will come in to stage manage on Thursday.” That had been her agreement with both Simon and Jonathan when she’d agreed to help with this. She would stage manage. She’d done it probably hundreds of times over the years on the NX programme, she could do it again now. Friday morning had been spoken for by Carla’s elementary school, which was the main reason they would be there the whole weekend.

“Then Friday it shall be.” Mr Lyman seemed more excited about it now there had been a date selected. He would need to, no doubt, put in a lot more planning on his end that she wouldn’t see until Thursday, but it was definitely all worth it. “I’ll see you on Thursday Erika, make sure Simon organises this.”

“I will. Thank you sir.” She smiled, just grateful that he’d said yes without her even having to give anything away, which had been her absolute worry. 

Lyman looked at her again with the same proud smile and shook his head. “At your age, Erika, you can call me Toby.”

“No offence sir, but I’ve been trained not to use names of people I respect.” That wasn’t exactly it, she’d feel awkward calling him Toby, when she thought of him still as her maths teacher. 

He seemed to accept her answer though, and she was very glad about it now. “So be it. Until Thursday, Captain.”

“Did he say yes?” Was shouted through the door after only a few seconds of silence. Erika stood up and walked over, unlocking the door and stepping back, trying not to laugh as Veronica Fletcher literally fell through the now open doorway. 

She walked back to her desk and sat down as Veronica pulled herself up. There had been no chance Erika was going to help her after discovering her eavesdropping. “Were you just waiting outside the door for me to finish?”

“No, I was trying to climb into your office at one point, but 3 storeys is higher than I expected.” All of a sudden Erika remembered why Veronica had fit in so well to the pilots of the NX Programme. Remembering the stupid things many of the officers had done.

It also reminded her that many of the officers had been complete idiots. Almost killing themselves in the process. “You’re an idiot. If anyone was trying to climb into my office I would have expected it to be Jonathan.” He was surely the biggest idiot.

“Forrest has him chained to a desk while they go over the things he’s not allowed to do again.” Veronica’s comment reminded Erika of something else the NX Programme had done, broken the rules on far too many occasions. There was really no shock or surprise anymore that after a year in the Expanse Forrest was sitting Jon down and reminding him of the laws of Starfleet.

“That’d be a fun meeting. Shoot. I have a meeting on Thursday.”

“With who?”

“Gardner, Roberts and Black about the engineering staffing issue.” She hated that finding qualified and experienced engineers was this hard only 4 years after the end of the Programme, so speaking to the admiralty about the problem was needed. Or really, sitting in a room while the admirals spoke was needed.

“I’ll take that.” Veronica said, and Erika just narrowed her eyes in question. “Starfleet needs good press, and you two planned something that would definitely cover that. If you can pull it off they should give you both a medal. There will be interest outside of New Mexico you know?”

She did know, but she also knew that the kids in an underprivileged town needed the advice far more than people in many of the neighbouring towns. Erika had been lucky her father had had an office in one of the closest cities, otherwise leaving Tatum at all would have been impossible. “That’s why we’ll invite the press, but the kids in my working-class home town will be the first ones with questions and the ones needing inspiration on how to get  out of Tatum. It would have been nice if I’d had that advice when I was trying to leave.”

“Now you’re a Starfleet Captain about to head up the second exploratory ship, sleeping with the captain of the first exploratory ship.” Veronica smirked, and Erika reached for something on her desk to throw then sat back, remembering her own last meeting with Forrest which had  _ mostly _ consisted of a list of things she wasn’t allowed to do anymore. Throwing things had been every third point.

Instead she thought asking when Veronica would stop focusing on her relationship status. “When will you get off that?”

“I’ll get off it when you get off it.”

Damn. How had she not seen that reply coming. She couldn’t laugh, and needed to keep both a stern face and a stern voice with her next comment. “I will kill you.” She managed it then waved. “Go staff something and pretend you actually do the job Starfleet is paying you for.”

“Do I have to?” Veronica asked with a moan. While they all pretended Veronica didn’t do her job, everyone knew she was actually one of the best officers around.

“Yes. I did say pretend.”

“Oh. I missed that. Pretend it is. See you in the morning. Want me to try and liberate your boyfriend?”

How was the easiest way to know if Jon needed liberating? The possibility of him being fed up and stabbing whoever he was in a meeting with. If Veronica was going into his meeting there was a strong possibility that it would end badly. “Only if he looks like he’s going to stab someone.”

“Roger that.” Veronica saluted, and Erika had to restrain herself from throwing a PADD at Veronica’s head. She managed, just about. It was hard.

“Get out!” She shouted with a laugh. There was a possibility that Starfleet Command might not survive if Jon and Veronica were left alone trying to escape a meeting. Actually, she’d seen Jon and Veronica try to escape meetings, along with AG, Sam and Rob. These were the moments she realised exactly how they’d survived the NX Programme, and that was purely because she hadn’t wanted them all to die. Maybe she’d go and try to end Jon’s meeting now,  before he and Veronica had the chance to kill everyone and burn down Starfleet Command.


	19. Chapter 19

** Tuesday, week 5 **

This meeting was not going as well as he’d hoped. Erika had managed to arrange the majority of a weekend of events in less than 48 hours. He just needed to get most of his crew to agree to go with them. No matter what he was sure that nobody wanted to talk to two Captains. One of them who they see all the time. So therefore his crew were needed. He didn’t expect all of them to agree to go, maybe three of them. Judging on how Phlox had been recently Jon doubted he’d be joining them. Plus he had heard that one of Phlox’s wives was due to speak at a conference. “Who’s idea was this?” Malcolm was the third one to ask. 

“It was mine.” He admitted, if his crew were going to be grumpy about this he was going to keep hammering away that it was his idea. Maybe loyalty would help convince them to come along with him. 

“I am, unfortunately, unable to come captain.” Phlox confirmed what Jon had thought, he wasn’t going to be coming. Phlox, as usual, didn’t leave it at the basics. He gave a reason, just as he always did. “My third wife is due on Earth on Thursday and I have not seen her in many years.” Third wife. He hadn’t met that one. Jon was pretty sure it was his second wife.

Jon just nodded, letting Phlox know that is was fine. “Alright doc, so, you four are all I have left.” He rounded on the Starfleet crew. Turning slightly away from Phlox but not ignoring the doctor either. If Phlox changed his mind he might as well know what was going on. “Technically you’re all on duty so you can’t claim to be going off anywhere with anyone.”

All four of the officers seemed to be thinking it over, which was good. They needed to think about it. “So basically we don’t have a choice?” Hoshi commented, and Jon was very, very glad that she had caught on very quickly. He knew she would have done.

Her catching on only helped him. He could be as commanding and sure as ever, and not actually have to tell them he was ordering them. “No, not really.”

Trip was the one who took the most annoyance at that, and somewhat unsurprisingly he was the one who realised where they were going wasn’t high on the list of places. “You could have said that when you sat us down. Why are we going to New Mexico?” That was a killer question, and it was phrased well. 

But, Jon still decided to try and play it coy. Maybe he wouldn’t have to tell them about the fact that he was mostly going to see Carla after the promise he’d made to Simon. “I have a personal obligation there, and I also owe a favour.” He didn’t phrase that at all well, they were definitely going to ask now.

Malcolm was the first one to ask. “Who?”

“For which part?” Jon needed to know. If he could avoid mentioning Carla he would. He didn’t really want to politicise her, but it was basically going to happen. Should he let it go. They were going to meet her in two days anyway. 

Once again, his crew were thinking, and they were thinking seriously. Which was a very good thing. Travis was the first one to speak, and it was obvious that he had caught on to something. What Jon didn’t know for sure, but he was glad to know his pilot was listening. “Both?”

“The personal obligation is my niece, the favour is to Captain Hernandez.” He owed Erika so much more than this one favour. But this was the one that mattered right now. His niece was the important reason he was going.

Trip was the first one to notice the erroneous comment about his niece, even though they all knew he was an only child. “How do you have a niece you’re an only…” Trip started, but trailed off after a second as it dawned on him. Jon and Erika had known each other for close to 14 years, and there was almost certainly a reason he would call her niece as his niece too. At least he’d figured out it was Erika. “She’s Captain Hernandez’s niece.”

At least he could explain that now. “She’s my niece too, she was born back when I was a Commander on the NX programme.” He did love Carla too. She had been a very clever girl, and he couldn’t really wait to see how much she had grown in the last few years. “I saw Erika’s brother the other day and he asked me to come visit and talk to her class. Since I was going down there and Starfleet needs some good press I thought taking all of you with me would be oh so wonderfully helpful.” He didn’t even try to hide the sarcasm at the end of that comment. 

Hoshi, clearly, had something else in her mind. That much was obvious, and she knew exactly that there was something going on with the favour. “So what’s the favour to Captain Hernandez?”

“We’re going to be doing it at her old high school. She’s still got a lot of loyalty to her home town.” He couldn’t help but smile at that, it was a bit of an understatement. Erika could bitch about her town, but nobody else was allowed to, or she would give them hell.

Trip was the next one to comment, and it was so classically 'Trip' Jon had to bite his thumb to stop himself from laughing. “I’d do this for my nephews.” He commented, and Jon continued biting his thumb.

Thankfully, Malcolm caught it as well, meaning Jon didn’t have to say anything. “We did do this for your nephew Trip, Phil’s eldest?” That had been one of the funniest days of their early mission. Jon still only needed to say ‘poop’ to Trip to make him laugh, or blush. Depending on the day.

“Oh yeah, I remember. Alright then, I’m in.” That was one of them, at least it wasn’t just going to be him and Erika. Trip now joined Jon in looking expectantly at the others sat around the table. 

After another few seconds Travis spoke with a smirk. “I’m in too, I’ve never been to New Mexico.” After another second he elbowed Malcolm who sat up straight and looked slightly annoyed. “Malcolm’s coming too.”

Malcolm clearly didn’t enjoy the fact that he’d been signed up without his choice. “I could have agreed myself you know.”

That left them all looking at Hoshi, and she was quite clearly enjoying keeping them all waiting. “I guess I’m the last one to agree. It’ll give me a chance to speak to Captain Hernandez.” He’d got them all, though knowing that Hoshi’s decision was largely based on getting to talk to Erika didn’t help his confidence. 

“She might bring some of her crew down.” He thought, but considering that Erika didn’t have much of a crew and everyone at the table knew that it was probably not a great thing to say.

“She doesn’t have a crew yet. She has junior officers and she has Veronica- wait Veronica’s coming?” Trip sounded so excited by that news. 

“Probably. That sounds like excitement, Trip.” 

“She owes me money. What will we actually be doing?”

“I’m doing the elementary school, you guys don’t need to come for that.” That was when he was going to stay away and deal with Carla and her class. “We’re doing an interactive assembly at the high school, they are both on Friday, and then we’re going to hold a Town Hall Q&A on Saturday.”

“All in Captain Hernandez’s home town?” Malcolm asked, with a little hint of a smirk.

There was something about that that bothered him, but he was sure that Erika’s town would be plenty able to host them well. “Yes. It’ll be fun. Dismissed.”

“You have an awful idea of fun.” Trip muttered over his shoulder as they left the briefing room aboard  _ Enterprise _ , Phlox being the first out the door. He would be able to tell Erika that all four of his Starfleet staff would be joining them in New Mexico. He was looking forward to spending time with Erika’s family. Besides loving Erika with all his heart, he genuinely liked her friends and family there, and he was sure that in amongst the nights and meetings he’d hopefully be able to reconnect with the friends he’d made there through being with Erika for so many years. It was going to be a good weekend.


	20. Chapter 20

** Thursday, week 5 **

Erika had made sure that the room was sorted and ready to go, and they were all set up for the following afternoon. She knew that Jonathan was worried about how this was happening and whether or not she’d managed to pull it off. She was proud to say, looking over this room, she had. It was a team effort including her former maths teacher and her brother. She had figured a lot of it out herself from almost 1400 miles away. “Well done Rike, you got this all together in a week.” Simon muttered, then nudged her gently. They both watched as Carla ran around the room, double checking everything the way only a seven year old could.

While it was coming together, she was nervous. Largely she was nervous for Jonathan, not so much for herself. Though she wasn’t too impressed about doing it herself too. “Don’t remind me, I’m actually dreading tomorrow.” 

Simon nudged her again then wrapped his arm around her shoulder as only a big brother could. “It’ll be great.” While she was sure it would be, it was definitely nice to get his support. “Toby seemed glad to see you.” He continued, a topic of conversation he’d been pushing for two days, about how if she ever left Starfleet she’d have a job in Tatum. Not what she’d really want.

The one downside of coming home was that her mother hadn’t been particularly happy to see her. Possibly because Lita Hernandez had never really wanted to admit her daughter was going to be pushing the boundaries of the final frontier. “Happier than mom anyway. Has she been like this for a while?” She needed to know if it was her, or if it was something in general that was annoying her mother.

Simon didn’t seem to be as concerned as she was. “The last couple of weeks.” He shrugged,  and Erika realised it actually was her. For some reason she could deal with it right now, she’d take the heat for right now. “Mom’s just been grumpy. Carla, come away.” He waved his daughter away from the table, Erika saw the grin on Carla’s face though, and she knew her niece was going to try. 

“Yes daddy.” Butter wouldn’t melt. Eventually Erika was going to make sure that Carla knew the best ways to convince Simon to do anything. Exactly how she’d done it to their father when she was a child. Simon took after Albert in too many ways.

“You remind me of dad sometimes.” She smiled then gave him a squeeze. After standing up here she wanted to see the room from behind the table, so she walked up and heard Simon following her. “This room looks great though, how many seated in here?”

“The whole school. Freshmen right through to Seniors. About 1000 kids. Nearly 500,000 on the streams. Not counting anyone out of state who picks it up in the morning. It’s going to be huge.” Well. That helped her feel less nervous about it. Not. “We have preplanned questions too, 20 of them to fill the 2 hours. There are a few for you.” That was news, there were questions for her. She had expected she might get a few cast off ones from Jonathan, but some specifically addressed to her. She hadn’t expected it.

So she had to ask. “People are actually interested in  _ Columbia _ ?”

“These kids are more interested in how a kid from Tatum became a Starfleet Captain.” That made more sense, and she was really glad that she could be a rolemodel for these kids. The kids who were growing up exactly as she had done. Maybe there was a future Captain who was going to be listening to her and her colleagues speak, and they would sign up to Starfleet because of them. That was exciting. “I managed to convince Toby not to comment on how you convinced Jonathan to do it.” She had had nothing to do with convincing Jonathan to do this, nothing at all. It all laid on the shoulders of another Hernandez woman, this one probably not even able to spell her name properly yet.

“Well that’s helpful, but really a seven year old convinced Jonathan to do it. Specifically that seven year old.” She pointed to Carla, who clearly noticed that she was being spoken about and turned round with a wave.

“She’s convincing. I’m well aware of this.” Simon laughed, and maybe Carla had figured out Erika’s secrets all on her own. Simon was clearly still thinking about something, and after a minute he looked at her seriously. “Are you and he actually back together?”

“Sort of. I’m the one holding things up before you go off on him.” She knew that he would go off on Jonathan if she didn’t tell him exactly the situation. Jonathan was not the one causing problems, nor was he the one pushing things backwards. That was all on her, and Jon didn’t deserve a lecture from her brother when it was something he wanted too. “He wants me back, I just want to be sure we’re doing the right thing.”

Simon maybe understood more than she gave him credit for. Sometimes she wrote him off far too quickly, given that he had never served in Starfleet or the military, nobody in her family had before her. He had a knowing smile though, and she knew he had an idea. “If you’d be happy, you’d be happy. That’s the important thing isn’t it?”

“We have careers, Simon, that matters too.” She had been trying to figure out how much that mattered, but it still wasn’t occurring to her completely. 

“Yeah, I guess. Are you coming to mom’s, bring Jonathan?” Simon wasn’t really giving her the choice. She was going to be visiting her mother that evening, and she was going to be bringing Jonathan. That could be fun, though her mother had preferred Jon to her on occasion over their last few years. 

She looked at her watched and finally realised the time. “Yep, shoot. Speaking of Jonathan I promised I’d go meet him at the hotel.”

“Aunty Rike can I come?”

She motioned to Simon and shook her head, certain she didn’t want to take Carla with her unless she needed to. “You’re supposed to go home with your daddy.”

“But you’re gonna see Uncle Jon.” Carla shouted in a high pitched voice, and Erika had to refrain from plugging her ears. 

Erika shook her head, already worried that possibly Jon had been built up in Carla’s mind in a way that maybe couldn’t be lived up to. “You haven’t seen him in a long time Kiddo.”

“But I want to. Please daddy, can I go?” Carla turned her attention to her father, and Erika knew if Simon said yes, she would have no real choice in taking Carla with her. Not that it would be a big problem either way, really. 

“OK fine, you can take her. She won’t leave us alone if you don’t.” Well, Carla was making that abundantly clear herself. “She’s definitely got your stubbornness.” Simon’s grin reminded Erika exactly why the two of them had ended up close as they’d grown up. She’d hated him once upon a time, now he was basically her best friend, the only friend she had outside of Starfleet. If he thought his daughter had inherited stubbornness from her it was a compliment, and he was also probably right.

“Right. Fine Kiddo. Come on or we’ll be late. We’ll meet you at mom’s later.” She held her hand out to Carla and shook her head. There was something about her nieces’ devotion to Jon that was sweet, and truly reminded her a lot of how most people on Earth felt about him. He was the only one who couldn’t see that. By the end of this weekend though, the chances were that he would.


End file.
